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THE 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF PEIVrVSYliVANIA, 

FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE YEAR 1827, 
BY GEORGE B. WOOD, M.D. 



Read before the Council of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, October 29th, 1827 

' AND 

\ PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE COUNCIL. 

- >) ' 

-J 

MCCARTY & DAVIS, No. 171, MARKET STREET. 



1834. 



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PREFACE. 7? 



The author of the following sketchy having been 
appointed to deliver the anniversary address before 
the Philomathean Society of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, in the year 1826, was induced to make some 
investigations into the history of that institution, the 
results of which were stated, in general terms, on the 
occasion referred to. In the course of his inquiries, 
numerous facts presented themselves, which, though 
not sufficiently important to claim a place in a brief 
address, appeared to him too much so to be passed 
over with neglect ; and the idea occurred to him, 
that a history of the University, for the preparation 
of which he possessed some materials, was due to 
the relation in which the Institution was placed to 
the state and city, and might prove interesting, if not 
serviceable to the community. He accordingly 
extended his researches, and having accumulated 
such additional facts and information as appeared es- 
sential to the purpose, drew up the following account 
of the school, and presented it to the Historical So- 
ciety, as a body peculiarly interested in whatever con- 
cerns the past or present affairs of Pennsylvania, and 
one to whose judgment he was desirous of submitting 



IV PREFACE. 



the question of publication. It is proper to state, that, 
in the collection of his materials, the author had access 
to the minutes of the University from its origin, in the 
form of an Academy, in 1749, to the period at which the 
history closes. His other sources of information were 
the works of Dr. Franklin and Dr. William Smith, the 
periodical journals and newspapers, the public docu- 
ments of the state, and oral or written communications 
from gentlemen connected with the school. The 
reader is requested to bear in mind, that the follow- 
ing historical sketch was prepared in the early part 
of the year 1827; as otherwise he might be led into 
error, by considering as applicable to the present 
time, the references which are frequently made to 
the period at which the author wrote. It would be 
a satisfaction to the author, to have it in his power to 
continue the narration down to the present date, and 
to conclude with an accurate account of the school as 
it now exists; but the engrossing nature of his avoca- 
tions renders this impossible; and he will be under the 
necessity of contenting himself with some brief no- 
tices, in the way of notes or appendix, in relation to 
points in which the most interesting changes have oc- 
curred. 

Philadelphia^ December 20th, 1833. 



THE 



HISTORY OF THE IJOTLVERSITY 



or 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



EARLY EDUCATION IN PHILADELPHIA.— ESTABLISHMENT OF 
THE ACADEMY.— INCORPORATION OF THE COLLEGE. 

In newly settled countries, the necessity of providing for 
present subsistence, and the desire of securing those com- 
forts which previous habit has rendered indispensable to the 
enjoyment of life, are apt to divert the attention from ob- 
jects of less immediate interest. The settlers, while con- 
tending with the physical difficulties of their new situation, 
have little regard for the intellectual wants of their ofispring; 
and forgetting, or imperfectly appreciating the advantages 
they had themselves enjoyed in early life, think that they 
perform all the duty of parents, by procuring for their chil- 
dren an exemption from those inconveniences, which they 
have learned to regard as the greatest evils. Education, 
therefore, is more or less neglected; and it not unfrequently 
happens, that the community, contrary to the usual course of 



6 HISTORY OF THE 

events, falls back, for the first generation, towards a state of 
ignorance, instead of advancing in knowledge and civiliza- 
tion. This remark applies, to a certain extent, to the early 
period of our own history. Though a few individuals, born 
and educated in the colonies, were elevated into distinction 
by the force of native talent, yet the great majority of those 
who were remarkable for literary attainments, had either 
emigrated from the mother country, or had received their 
education in her schools. 

The first colonists of Pennsylvania, were, perhaps, less ne- 
gligent in providing the means of elementary instruction, 
than those of most of the other settlements. In the year 
1689, only seven years after the foundation of Philadelphia, 
a public school was established in this cit}'', by members of 
the Society of Friends, which was incorporated in 1697, 
and after undergoing various changes in its organization, re- 
ceived, in 1711, a final charter from William Penn. Fif- 
teen ** discreet and religious persons, of the people called 
Quakers," were constituted a Board of Overseers, and were 
vested with all the property and privileges of the corpora- 
tion, together with the right of supplying vacancies in their 
own numbers. George Keith, a native of Aberdeen, a man 
of learning, and famous in the history of the Friends, was 
the first teacher employed. In the school were taught the 
Latin language, the Mathematics, and the rudiments of an 
English education. Though supported by funds derived 
from the Society of Friends, and under the exclusive direc- 
tion of members of Ihat society, it was open indiscriminate- 
ly to individuals of all religious denominations; and for more 
than sixty years, continued to be the only public place of 
instruction in the province. 

But, before the end of this period, the school had become 
entirely inadequate to the demand of a rapidly increasing 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. ' 

population; and though private schools were not wanting, 
still the means even of elementary education were very 
deficient.* In the higher branches of knowledge, instruc- 
tion was accessible only to the sons of the wealthy, who 
were able to support the expense of a residence abroad, either 
in the mother country, or in one of the older colonies of 
New England. There was, therefore, an urgent demand 
for a seminary, founded upon liberal principles, and em- 
bracing within its plan all those subjects of study, which are 
necessary to qualify the youth of a growing and prosperous 
community for the performance of the various duties of pub- 
lic and private life. 

A want so obvious could not escape the penetration of our 
great Franklin; and, with his active and patriotic spirit, to 
be convinced of any public deficiency, was at once to use 
every exertion for its supply. His attention was according- 
ly directed, at a very early period, to the means of extending 
the benefits of education in the city and province; and in the 
year 1743, he drew up the plan of an academy, which he 
communicated to the Reverend Richard Peters, with the 
hope, that, as this gentleman was then out of employ, he 
might be induced to take upon himself the superintendence 
of such an estahlishment. Failing, however, in obtaining the 
desired co-operation, and occupied with other public afiairs, 
which appeared to be of more pressing importance, he dropped 
the scheme for the time; and the war which soon afterwards 
broke out between Great Britain and France, the efiects of 
which were extended to the colonies, prevented its renewal 
for several years. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, and the consequent restoration of tranquillity in 

• It appears from an extract from the Journal of the Council, given by 
Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, that a school was opened in Philadel- 
phia, so early as the year 1683, by Enoch Flower, a native of Wiltshire, 
who taught reading, writing, and casting accounts for eiglit shillings a quarter. 



8 HISTORY OP THE 

the provinces, his thoughts reverted to the subject; and in 
the year 1749, he entered with zeal upon such measures as 
he supposed would most promote the success of the project. 
As the first step, he endeavoured to interest in his favour 
several friends; of whom Thomas Hopkinson, Tench Fran- 
cis, and the Reverend Richard Peters, seem to have been 
the most active and efficient. Having secured their appro- 
bation and assistance, he next proceeded to write and pub- 
lish a pamphlet, entitled '« Proposals relative to the Educa- 
tion of Youth in Pennsylvania," which he took care to cir- 
culate extensively among the most respectable inhabitants of 
the city. The proposals attracted much attention, and seve- 
ral of the most influential citizens, to the number of twenty- 
four, having met together, determined to associate them- 
selves into a Board of Trustees, for the purpose of carrying 
the design into effect* Their first object was to establish 
certain regulations for their own government. It was de- 
termined that they should not " for any services by them as 
trustees performed, claim or receive any reward or compen- 
sation." It was also determined, that the original number 
of twenty-four, should <' always be continued, but never ex- 
ceed upon any motive whatsoever;" and that vacancies should 
be supplied by the choice of the board from among the inha- 
bitants of Philadelphia, or persons residing in its immediate 
neighbourhood. These rules were established as fundamental, 

• Among the names of those gentlemen are many which are still well 
known and highly esteemed in Philadelphia. They were James Logan, 
Thomas Lawrence, William Allen, John Inglis, Tench Francis, William 
Masters, Lloyd Zackary, Samuel Mc. Call jr., Joseph Turner, Benjamin 
Frankhn, Thomas Leech, William Shippen, Robert Strettell, PhiHp Syng, 
Charles Willing, Phineas Bond, Richard Peters, Abraham Taylor, Tliomas 
Bond, Thomas Hopkinson, William Plumsted, Joshua M.addox, Thomas 
White, and William Coleman. Benjamin Franklin was chosen president, 
and William Coleman treasurer of the board. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 9 

and declared to be unalterable: others were also drawn up, 
adapted to the object in view, but alterable at the pleasure 
of the board. They were signed by the trustees on the 13th 
of November, 1749. 

Having thus constituted themselves governors of the pro- 
posed institution, they proceeded to provide funds for its es- 
tablishment; and on the day following that of the signature, 
very liberally subscribed among themselves a sum exceed- 
ing two thousand pounds, to be raised in five yearly pay- 
ments, " declaring it to be for the encouragement of their 
useful, good, and charitable undertaking; and to enable them- 
selves and their successors to begin, promote, continue, and 
enlarge the same, humbly hoping, through the favour of 
Almighty God, and the bounty and patronage of pious and 
well disposed persons, that it might be of great and lasting 
benefit to the present and future rising generations." To 
the amount thus contributed, very considerable additions 
were afterwards made by subscriptions among the citizens, 
by gifts and legacies from charitable individuals, and by va- 
rious other means which will be noticed more particularly 
hereafter. But as these funds were not immediately avail- 
able, it was necessary, in the commencement, to have re- 
course to a loan, and the trustees accordingly borrowed 
eight hundred pounds, on their own joint bond. 

The next object was to procure a suitable building; and in 
this, they were remarkably fortunate.^ The celebrated 
Whitfield had arrived in America a few years before this pe- 

* I find it mentioned on the minutes of the board of trustees, that a lot 
of ground in Sixth Street was offered to them by James Logan, upon which 
to erect an academy, *' provided it should be built within the term of 14 
years." The offer was decUned, as " the new building was, in all respects, 
better suited to their present circumstances and future views." The trus- 
tees, however, expressed '* a most grateful sense of his regard to the acade- 
my," and returned him "their sincere thanks for his kind and generous 
offer." 

2 



10 HISTORY OF THE 

riod. Though excluded from the churches of Philadelphia, 
and compelled to preach in the fields, such was the power of 
his eloquence, that immense crowds were collected to hear 
him, and a fervour of religious feeling was excited in the 
community, of which the annals of the country had afforded 
no previous example. In this state of the public mind, it 
was proposed to erect an edifice, which might serve the dou- 
ble purpose of a charity school, and a place of public wor- 
ship for Whitfield, and other ministers of the gospel, simi- 
larly circumstanced. Little difiiculty was experienced in 
obtaining adequate subscriptions; a lot was procured in 
Fourth, near the corner of Mulberry Street; and a large 
building was speedily raised, which is still standing, and 
well known to Philadelphians by the name of the academy,* 
At that time, however, it was called the new buildings 
and as people of almost every religious denomination had 
been concerned in its erection, it was vested in trustees se- 
lected from different sects, among whom were Whitfield and 
Franklin. But the lot having been purchased on ground 
rent, and money having been borrowed for the completion 
of the building, the trustees, after the expiration of a few 
years, found themselves involved in an increasing debt, 
which the subsidence of the original enthusiasm left them 
without the means of discharging. Things were in this con- 
dition, when the project of an academy was announced. It 
was thought that the objects of both establishments might be 
attained by a combination of their resources; and as Frank- 
lin was a member of each body of trustees, an agreement 
was effected, by his agency, satisfactory to both parties. A 
conveyance of the new building was made to the trustees 

• It may be proper to state, tiiat one4ialf of this building has been recent- 
ly removed, and a church erected on its site by a Society of Methodists. — 
December y 1833. 



UNIVERSITY or PENNSYLVANIA. 11 

of the academy, on the conditions, that the debt, now 
amounting to nearly eight hundred pounds, should be dis- 
charged; that a free-school should be maintained on the pre- 
mises; and that in the house already built, or in one to be 
built for the purpose, a place of worship should be set apart 
for the occasional use of such ministers of the gospel as the 
trustees might judge qualified to " teach the word of God;'' 
and especially, that its free and uninterrupted use should be 
permitted to the Rev. Mr. George Whitfield, " whenever 
he should happen to be in the city, and desire to preach 
therein." These conditions have been complied with; and 
to this day a charity school has been maintained, and a room 
kept open in the building, for the convenience of itinerant 
preachers. This transaction took place in December, 1749; 
but, as many alterations were to be made in the edifice to fit 
it for the new purposes to which it was to be applied, and 
the trustees were desirous of carrying their design into im- 
mediate effect, it became necessary to procure temporary ac- 
commodations; and the schools were first opened in a pri- 
vate house. It was not till the commencement of the year 
1751, that they were introduced into the new hall; on which 
occasion, the usual solemnities w^ere observed, and a sermon 
was preached by the Rev. Richard Peters.* 

The views of the trustees were at first wisely directed to 
the communication of that elementary knowledge, which is 
most essential to the citizens of a rising community, and the 
acquisition of which is a necessary step towards the attain- 
ment of the higher branches. For the present, therefore, 
they restricted their establishment within the limits of a 

* This gentleman, though a clergyman, was employed in the secular of- 
fice of provincial secretary. He was a man of high standing, and very consi- 
derable influence; and was the successor of Franklin in the presidency of 
the board of trustees. 



12 HISTORY OF THE 

simple academy, deferring a farther extension of the scheme, 
till the success of their first efforts should have demonstrated 
its practicability, and smoothed the way for its accomplish- 
ment. 

In the academy were embraced one school for the Latin, 
one for English, and one for the Mathematics, under the 
care of three masters with their assistant ushers, the princi- 
pal of whom had the title of rector. A charity school was 
also opened, in which the children of poor citizens were in- 
structed gratis. It is worthy of observation, that among the 
teachers originally employed in the academy was Charles 
Thompson, afterwards rendered conspicuous by his office of 
secretary to the Revolutionary Congress, and venerable in 
the recollection of Philadelphians for his virtues and abilities, 
as well as for the advanced age which he attained. He was, 
during four years, one of the tutors in the Latin school, at 
the end of which time he left it in pursuit of other business, 
having discharged the duties of his office with entire satis- 
faction to his superiors. 

Finding the schools to prosper, and to present a good pro- 
spect of permanent usefulness, the trustees resolved to apply 
for a charter, which was readily granted them by the pro- 
prietors. By this instrument, which bears date July 13th, 
1753, they were incorporated by the name of the ^^ Trustees 
of the Academy and Charitable School in the province of 
Pennsylvania." 

A continuance of prosperity soon induced them to extend 
their views beyond the limits within which they had ori- 
ginally restricted themselves. To the branches before taught, 
were now added Logic, Rhetoric, Natural and Moral Phi- 
losophy; and it was as a teacher of these sciences that the 
Rev. Wm. Smith, who in the future became highly dis- 
tinguished, was introduced into the institution. The study 
of the Greek Language was joined with that of Latin; and a 



UNIVERSITY OF PF4NNSYLVANIA. 13 

course of instruction having thus been adopted equal in ex- 
tent to that usually pursued in the highest seminaries, nothing 
more was requisite to place the academy of Philadelphia on 
the footing of a collegiate establishment, than the right of 
assuming the title, and the privilege of conferring degrees 
upon the students. The hope of obtaining collegiate ho- 
nours has always exercised a powerful influence over the 
youthful mind; and every seminary, however extensive may 
be its plan, and whatever the qualifications of the teachers, 
must labour under great disadvantages, if destitute of that 
command over the diligence of its pupils, with which the 
power of giving or withholding these honours invests it. As 
the effects of this deficiency in the academy began to be ex- 
perienced in the desertion of some of the best students, who 
sought in other seminaries that testimonial of their proficiency 
which was denied them in their own; it was recommended 
by the teachers to the board of trustees, that application 
should be made for such additions to their charter as might 
invest them with the rights of a collegiate body. The ap- 
plication was accordingly made; and an additional charter was 
granted by the proprietors, dated June 16th, 1755, by which 
the former style of the board was changed into that of " The 
Trustees of the College, Academy, and Charitable School of 
Philadelphia,'^ and all the powers conferred upon them, 
which are usually attached to such a title. The condition, 
however, was annexed to this charter, that the trustees and 
professors, before entering on the performance of their of- 
fices, should respectively take and subscribe the customary 
oaths or affirmations of allegiance to the King of Great 
Britain. 



14 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER II. 

ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE COLLEGE.— 
FIRST GRADUATES.r-PROSPERITY OF THE COLLEGE. 

It may not be amiss to describe more particularly the or- 
ganization and mode of government of the institution, at this 
period. It consisted of three departments, those of the col- 
lege, academy, and charity schools, the last of which, how- 
ever, was connected with the two former in no other way 
than as it was under the authority of the same board of trus- 
tees. The college and academy were much less distinct. 
They were not only connected through the medium of the 
trustees, but were managed by the same faculty of professors; 
and the students belonging to the two departments were of- 
ten mingled together in the same classes. The distinction 
seems to have been simply this, that those pupils whose ob- 
ject was to go through a regular course of instruction, and 
ultimately receive the honour of graduation, were considered 
as members of the college; those who attended merely the 
English and mathematical schools, without pursuing classical 
or philosophical studies, as members of the Academy; and 
they were associated under the same teachers only when en- 
gaged in those subjects which were common to all. By this 
arrangement, while young men desirous of a liberal education, 
either as a preparation for entering upon one of the learned 
professions, or simply as an accomplishment, were provided 
with the means of attaining it, others, of humbler views, and 
with more limited resources, were enabled to acquire a degree 
of knowledge suitable to their future prospects. The plan 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 15 

was well adapted to the condition of the country at a time, 
when schools, even of the inferior kind, were scarce, and it 
was desirable to eflfect much at as little expense as possible. 
At a subsequent period, however, this complexity of ar- 
rangement operated to the disadvantage of the higher branch 
of the seminary, both by taking away that unity of object, 
which in this, as well as all other pursuits, is essential to the 
greatest success, and by producing on the public mind an 
impression, that the whole institution was calculated rather 
for primary instruction than for completing the education of 
youth. 

In the collegiate department was a grammar school, in 
which boys were taught the rudiments of the learned lan- 
guages, previously to their entrance into the regular classes 
of the college. Of these classes there were only three, the 
freshman, junior, and senior; and the term of study was 
confined to the same number of years. Experience has 
shown that this period is too short for the attainment of the 
requisite knowledge by youth of ordinary abilities and in- 
dustry; and, in the competition which afterward arose among 
the numerous colleges of this country, the arrangement was 
injurious to the interests of the school of Philadelphia. But, 
at first, no disadvantage was experienced, and, perhaps, the 
prospect of a speedy completion of the preparatory studies, 
tended to favour its success at a time, when it was necessary 
for young men to commence the business of life at as early 
a period as possible. 

The college and academy were under the immediate di- 
rection of a faculty, composed of the professors, of whom 
the principal had the title of provost, and the second in au* 
thority, that of vice-provost and rector of the academy. The 
professors, five in number, were assisted, when necessary, 
by ushers, who were possessed of no authority in the govern- 
ment of the institution. The duties of the faculty, were to 



16 HISTORY OP THE 

meet, occasionally, and inquire into the condition of the 
schools, and conduct of the scholars; to see that the laws 
were observed, and the plans of education carried into effect; 
and, when any deficiency in the arrangements of the institu- 
tion was observable, to propose such regulation for the sanc- 
tion of the trustees, as they might deem likely to be condu- 
cive to its prosperity. 

On the charitable foundation, there were two schools, one 
for boys, and another for girls, which were taught respect- 
ively by a master and mistress, with occasional assistants. 
The boys were instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic; 
the girls in reading, writing, and sewing. The schools were 
under the immediate care of the trustees, to whom applica- 
tions for admittance were to be made. The number of cha- 
rity scholars was seldom much short of one hundred. 

The whole property and government of the institution 
were, by the charter, vested in the board of trustees, which 
retained its original constitution. In conferring the powers 
before mentioned upon the faculty of the college and aca- 
demy, the trustees reserved to themselves the exclusive pri- 
vileges of making laws; of appointing all the officers of the 
seminary; of inflicting on the students the severer punish- 
ments of degradation, suspension, and expulsion; of confer- 
ring the ordinary and honorary degrees; and finally, of de- 
ciding in all matters of high importance to the institution. 
But in every thing which related to the students, though, for 
fear of abuse, they thus reserved the power in their own 
hands, they generally decided according to the recom- 
mendation of the faculty, whose better opportunities of form- 
ing an accurate judgment entitled them to this deference.* 

The first commencement of the college took place on the 

• Tlie names of the first trustees hare been mentioned in a previous note. 
The following is a list of those who were subsequently elected members of 
tlie board, up to the period of its dissolution. They are given in the order 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYI.VANIA. l7 

17th of May, 1757, when its honours were conferred on se- 
ven young men who had completed their education within 
its walls. The names of these earliest graduates were Paul 
Jackson, Jacob Duche, Francis Hopkinson,*" Samuel Magaw, 
Hugh Williamson, James Latta, and John Morgan. 

From this period, the institution rose rapidly in import- 
ance. The extent and liberality of its plan, conjoined with 
the excellence of its management, secured it the patronage 
of the neighbouring population; and it soon acquired a cele- 
brity which attracted numerous students from the distant co- 

of their election. It will be observed that the highest station, influence, 
and talent in the province, were secured in the government of the college. 

Isaac Norris, Thomas Cadwalader, James Hamilton, Alexander Stedman, 
John Mifflin, Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, jr., WUliam Coxe, Thomas 
Willing, Jacob Duche, jr., Lynford Lardner, Amos Strettell, Andrew Elliott, 
John Redman, John Penn, John Lawrence,- John Allen, Isaac Jones, Richard 
Penn, Samuel Powell, Thomas Mifflin, WUham White, James TUghman, 
Robert Morris, Francis Hopkinson, George Clymer, Alexander Wilcox, 
John Cadwalader, and James Wilson. 

It has been mentioned that Dr. Franklin was the first president of the 
board. He was succeeded in that office by the Rev. Richard Petere, who 
was first elected in the year 1756, and was annually re-elected untU the year 
1764, w^hen the state of his health rendering his absence from the country 
requisite, his place was supphed by the Hon. James Hamilton, then gover- 
nor of the province. ^Ir. Hamilton having gone to England during the 
^me yeaf, the Hon. John Pemi, who succeeded him as governor, was ap- 
pointed to the presidency of the board. In the year 1771, Mr. Penn left 
the province, and Mr. Hamilton, having returned, was re-elected. At the 
time of the dissolution of the board, the Hon. Richard Penn, who followed 
Mr. Hamilton as governor, filled the office of its president. 

* With regard to Mr. Hopkinson, tlie following is an exti-act fi'om the mi- 
nutes of the board of trustees, of May 26th, 1766. *' It was resolved, that as 
Francis Hopkinson, Esq., who was the first scholar in this seminaiy at its open- 
ing, aiKi hkewise one of the first who received a degree,- was about to embai-k 
for England, and has done honour to the place of his education by his abili- 
ties and good moi-als, as well as rendered it many substantial senices on all 
pubhc occasions,- the thanks- of this institution ought to be delivered to hhn, 
in the most affectionate and respectful manner." 

3 



18 HISTORY OF THE 

lonies. From Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, it re- 
ceived much support; and even in the West Indies, many 
planters preferred it, for the education of their children, ta 
the schools of England. Among the individuals who at 
various times received rts honours, were many who after- 
wards attained great distinction in their professional, literary, 
or political career, and thus contributed to spread and exalt 
its reputation. Both in the advantages which it offered, and 
the actual support which it received, it was, perhaps, unri- 
valled, certainly not surpassed by any other seminary at 
that time existing in the provinces. Only two years after 
the charter was granted, the number of pupils in the institu- 
tion amounted to about three hundred, one-third of whom 
were members of the collegiate department.* In the year 
1763, according to a statement made by the provost, nearly 
four hundred individuals were receiving their education in 
the various branches of the seminary. To appreciate fully 
the prosperity to be implied from this extensive support, we 
must take into consideration the limited population and 
wealth of the country at that period, and must recollect that 
the colonies had just emerged from a long and cruel war, 
which had ravaged their borders, exhausted their resources, 
and even threatened the subversion of their liberties. 

The students who came from a distance were, at first, on 
the same footing with those who resided permanently in 
the city. Boarding separately, wherever their own inclina- 
tion, or that of their friends might prompt, they attended 
the schools during the regular hours, but, in the intervals, 
had the complete control of their own time and conduct. 

* In a list of the pupils in the English school, made in the commence- 
ment of the year 1757, I observed the name of Lindley MuiTay, in all pro- 
bability the same with that Lindley Murray who lias acquired so much fame 
as the author of the best English Gramniai", and who recently died in Eng- 
land. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 19 

Inconveniences were thought to arise from this arrangement, 
which led to the proposition, that a house should he built in 
the vicinity of the college, sufficiently large for the accom- 
modation of the students from other provinces and the West 
Indies, where they might be more immediately beneath the 
eye of the professors, more convenient to the schools, and, 
at the same time, boarded at less expense than in private fa- 
milies. The trustees, to enable themselves to effect this 
purpose, without encroaching upon their capital, which was 
then very small, issued proposals for a lottery; by which, as 
the contemplated measure was generally approved, they suc- 
ceeded, in a short time, in raising a sum exceeding two thou- 
sand pounds. This was immediately applied to the pro- 
posed object; and, in the year 1762, a suitable building was 
erected on a lot of ground belonging to the trustees, on the 
north side of the college, where it still stands. The lower 
story was appropriated to the charity schools, the remainder 
of the house to the reception of students, who were placed 
under the care of a steward,* and were subjected to such 
rules as were deemed necessary to maintain order, and pro- 
mote their health, comfort, and morals. This plan, though 
not attended with all those advantages which had been anti- 
cipated, had been carried into effect at too great an expense 
of money and trouble to be hastily abandoned; and it appears 
to have been continued, till the operations of the college 
were suspended during the war of the revolution. 

* Mr. Kinnersley, one of the professors, performed for many yeare tlie duties 
of steward. 



30 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER III. 



PROVOST AND PROFESSORS OF THE COLLEGE. 

As the success of the institution was attributable more to 
the diligence and abilities of the professors, than, perhaps, to 
any other cause, we should be doing injustice to their deserts, 
as well as presenting a very incomplete view of the school 
itself, were we to pass over, without particular notice, the 
most prominent among the gentlemen who filled the colle- 
giate chairs. 

The first provost, the Rev, Dr. William Smith, was emi- 
nent for his various learning, and general ability. Many yet 
living can bear witness to his eloquence as a preacher ; and 
his published works exhibit, in a very favourable light, his 
powers of composition. Born and educated in Great Britain, 
he emigrated to this country about the commencement of the 
year 1754, and soon after his arrival, was employed in the 
academy to teach those higher branches, which were at that 
time mtroduced into its course of studies. In the perform- 
ance of this duty, he acquitted himself so well, and, in other 
respects, gave so much satisfaction to the trustees, that when 
the institution assumed the form of a college, he was unanir 
mously chosen to fill the oflice of provost. Thus placed at 
the head of the seminary, he not only employed in its support 
the talents for teaching, with which he was eminently en- 
dowed; but also exerted himself, with much zeal and suc- 
cess, in enlarging its pecuniary resources. Though, for ft 



UNIVERSITY or PENNSYLVANIA. 21 

time, rendered unpopular with the predominant party, by in- 
terfering in those contentions between the legislature and the 
governors which formed the principal feature in the local 
politics of the province, he was yet enabled by his talents to 
command the respect of the public; and in Great Britain, 
such was the esteem in which he was held, that on a visit he 
was induced to make to that country, in the year 1759, to 
escape the resentment of the Pennsylvania legislature, he was 
received into the highest society, and, at the recommendation 
of the archbishop of Canterbury and several of the princi- 
pal bishops, was honoured by the University of Oxford, with 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity.* The circumstance which 
exposed him to the ill-will of a numerous party at home, se- 
cured him the favour of the proprietors and their friends; 
and by the influence which he possessed in England, he was 
enabled, at a subsequent period, very materially to promote 
the interests of the college. His exertions in its favour were 
indeed such as frequently called forth the decided approba- 
tion of the trustees ; and though absent on several occasions, 
and at one time put under arrest by the legislature, his ta- 
ients and influence were thought so essential to the prosperity 
of the school, that he was always maintained in his station, 
and teachers, when necessary, were temporarily employed to 
supply his place. On the occasion of his arrest, the classes 
under his care were directed to attend him at his place of 
confinement. As the events of Dr. Smith's life are intimately 
connected with the history of the institution over which he 
presided, we shall have more than one opportunity of again 
alluding to them, in the details which follow. 

The office of vice-provost and rector of the academy, was 
occupied by the Rev. Dr. Francis Allison. This gentleman 

?* At a subsequent period the same honom* was conferred on liim by the 
iunlversities of Aberdeen and Dublin. 



22 HISTORY OF THE 

had long been engaged in the business of instruction, and was 
among the first who established regular schools in the pro- 
vince. That he must have acquired considerable eminence 
as a teacher, is evinced by the fact, that at a time when 
honorary degrees were in much higher esteem than at pre- 
sent, that of Doctor of Divinity was spontaneously conferred 
upon him by the University of Glascow. Before his election 
to the vice-provostship, he had for several years been at- 
tached to the academy as rector, and master of the Latin 
school.* As in the case of Dr. Smith, his election was unani- 
mous; and the names of both these gentlemen, with their re- 
spective titles, were, by direction of the trustees, inserted in 
the charter of the college. Their duties, as professors, were 
to preside over the philosophical studies of the different classes, 
and Dr. Allison assisted also in teaching the languages. For 
more than twenty years they were the main supports of the 
institution, with which they remained connected up to the 
period of that change in its affairs which was brought about 
during the troubles of the revolution. 

Of the other members of the faculty, the Rev. Ebenezer 
Kinnersley, professor of English and oratory, was perhaps the 
most conspicuous. Having been associated with Franklin in 
the prosecution of his investigations into the subject of elec- 
tricity, he acquired a taste for that science, which induced 
him to procure a set of apparatus, calculated to exhibit an 
exemplification of its newly discovered principles, by varied 
and pleasing experiments. Thus provided, and at the time 
engaged in no other employment, he was prevailed on by 
Franklin to exhibit these experiments publicly, and to ac- 
company them with explanatory lectures; the first, probably, 

* The fu'st rector of the academy was a Mr. Martin, who died veiy sudden- 
ly, sooii after his appointment, and was succeeded by Dr. Allison, who 
then resided in Chester county, and was invited by the trustees to fill the 
vacant place. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 33 

which were delivered on a scientific subject in Philadelphia. 
The plan succeeded so much to his satisfaction, that he made 
a journey through most of the colonies, delivering his lectures 
in the capital towns, and even visited the West Indies on the 
same errand. In an article of the American Magazine for 
October, 1758, written, there is every reason to believe, by 
Dr. Smith, it is stated, that Mr. Kinnersley was " the chief 
inventor of the electrical apparatus, as well as author of a 
considerable part of those discoveries in electricity published 
by Mr. Franklin, to whom he communicated them. Indeed," 
the author of the paper goes on to say, " Mr. FrankHn him- 
self mentions his name with honour, though he has not been 
careful enough to distinguish between their particular disco- 
veries. This, perhaps, he may have thought needless, as 
they were known to act in concert. But though that cir- 
cumstance was known here, it was not so in the remote parts 
of the world to which the fame of these discoveries has ex- 
tended.^' Coming, as this account probably does, from one 
so closely associated with the subject of it as the provost of 
the college must have been with one of the professors, it may 
be received as the statement of Mr. Kinnersley himself. It 
must, however, be confessed, that Franklin, in his memoirs, 
has admitted no claim of this or any other person to a parti- 
cipation in the discoveries which he made and announced ; 
but merely states, that he resorted to the assistance of Mr. 
Kinnersley, as a neighbour and man of leisure, in the per- 
formance of his experiments. The electrical apparatus col- 
lected by Mr. Kinnersley must have been extensive; for 
after his death, it was purchased by the trustees of the 
college, according to a valuation made by impartial and 
well qualified judges, for the sum of five hundred pounds.* 
Mr. Kinnersley was introduced into the institution in the 
year 1753, as the successor of David James Dove, who was 

* It is proper to state that this estimate was made during" the revolution, at 
a period when the legal currency had veiy much depreciated. 



24 HISTORF OF THE 

the first teacher of the English school. In 1772, the state of 
his health rendering a voyage to a warm climate advisable, 
he resigned his station, after having performed its duties for 
the space of nineteen years. 

The professorship of the languages was originally filled by 
Paul Jackson, who, in the year 1758, left the institution on 
account of ill health, and was succeeded by John Beveridge. 
This gentleman had, when young, taught a grammar school 
in Edinburgh, under the patronage of the celebrated Ruddi- 
man, from whom, as well as from other men of note, he 
brought with him to this country strong testimonials both of 
his ability and good conduct. When invited to connect 
himself with the Philadelphia college, he was residing at 
Hartford, in Connecticut, where he had for some time been 
conducting a private Latin school with great success. As a 
classical scholar he was thought to be inferior to none in the 
colonies. Some of his compositions in Latin are still extant 
in our older Magazines, and evince a familiarity with that 
language, which, with his long habit of teaching, must have 
well qualified him for his station in the college. Upon his 
death in 1767, James Davidson, who had previously kept a 
school in Newark, was appointed to the professorship. 

Of the earliest mathematical professor, very littlo seems- 
to be known. His name was Theophilus Grew, and it 
would appear, from a slight notice contained in an article of 
the American Magazine before alluded to, that he had " long 
been an approved teacher of mathematics and astronomy " 
in Philadelphia. He was attached to the institution at its 
origin, and continued so till his death in 1759. Hugh Wil- 
liamson, a graduate of the school, succeeded to his station. 

This brief account of the early professors, will not be 
thought misplaced by those who feel an interest in the spread 
of learning, science, and the arts of civilization in a young 
country, and are willing to do justice to those who made the 
promotion of this object the business of their lives. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 



CHAPTER IV. 

ORIGIN OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

Though the college of Philadelphia was later in its origin 
than some similar institutions in the older settlements, it 
may nevertheless boast the honour of having established a 
medical school, the first in f)oint of time, as it has always 
been the greatest in merit and success of all upon this conti- 
nent. It does not come within the design of the present 
sketch, to give even a very general account of the rise, pro- 
gress, and ultimate prosperity of this department of the cpl- 
lege, which of itself afifords a subject so distinct and copious, 
as well to deserve a separate and minute consideration. We 
may, however, be allowed to notice a few circumstances, 
connected with the earliest period of its history.* 

• The following extract of a letter from James Logan to Colonel Hunter, 
Governor of New York, dated 5th month 1st, 1717-18, contains the earliest 
account we have seen of a proposition to dehver medical lectures in Phila- 
delphia. The individual referred to was Dr. Colden. 

"All I know of that bill is only this. He came to me one day, to de- 
sire my opinion of a proposal to get an Act of Assembly for an allow- 
ance to him as physician for the poor of this place. I told him I thought 
very well of the thing, but doubted whether it could be brought to bear 
in the house. Not long after, K. Hill showed me a bill for this pur- 
pose, put into liis hands by the governor, with two farther provisions in it, 
which were, that a public physical lecture should be held in Philadelphia, to 
the support of which every unmarried man, above the age of twenty-one 
years, should pay six shillings and eight-pence or an English crown yearly, 
and that the corpses of all persons whatever that died here, should be visit- 
ed by an appointed physician who should receive for his trouble three 
shillings and four-pence. These things I owned were very commendable, 
but doubted our Assembly would never go into them, that of the lecture 
especially." 

4 



26 HISTORY OF THE 

By a letter from Dr. William Shippen to the board of 
trustees, written in September, 1765, it appears that the in- 
stitution of a medical school in this city, had long been a fa- 
vourite object with him, and that in an introductory lecture 
to a course of anatomy, delivered three years previously to 
the date of the letter, he had publicly announced his belief 
in the expediency and practicability of the measure. Having, 
when in England, communicated his plan to Dr. John Mor- 
gan,* who was then prosecuting his medical studies in that 
country, he had resolved to postpone any attempt to carry 
it into effect, till the return of that gentleman should afford an 
opportunity of securing his co-operation. In the mean time, 
however, Dr. Morgan had interested in favour of the pro- 
ject several influential individuals in England; and it was 
proposed that a school of medicine should be engrafted on 
the Philadelphia college, the professors to be appointed, and 
the degrees to be conferred, as in the other department. 
Among those who exhibited the strongest interest in the af- 
fair were Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Peters, former presidents 
of the board, at that time residing in Great Britain, and 
Thomas Penn, the proprietary of Pennsylvania; from all of 
whom Dr. Morgan, on his return to Philadelphia, brought 
letters to the trustees, strongly advising the adoption of his 
plan, and recommending the Doctor himself to their choice, as 
one of the professors. f These letters were presented to the 

* The gentlemen already mentioned among tlie first graduates of the 
college. 

f The following is the letter from Mr. Penn, extracted from the minutes 
of the board of ti'ustees. 

*' Dr. Morgan has laid before me a proposal for introducing new profes- 
sorships into the coUege, for the instmction of all such as shall incline to go 
into the study and practice of physic and surger}^, as well as the several oc- 
cupations attending upon these necessaiy and useful arts. He thinks his 
scheme, if patronised by the trustees, will at present give reputation and 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. ^7 

board at a special meeting, accompanied with a written propo- 
sal from Dr. Morgan, ^^ setting forth his plan of opening medi- 
cal schools under the patronage and government of the college, 
and intimating his desire to be appointed professor of the 
theory and practice of physic.'^ The trustees approved 
the scheme, and ^' entertaining a high sense of Dr. Morgan's 
abilities, and the honours paid to him by different learned 
bodies and societies in Europe," unanimously appointed him 
to the office for which he applied. The date of this event, 
the 3d of May, 1765, is deserving of commemoration, as the 
birth day, in America, of that system of medical education, 
which has been carried to such high perfection, and has so 

strength to the institution, and though it may for some time occasion a small 
expense, yet after a little while it will gradually support itself, and even 
make considerable additions to the academy funds." 

** Dr. Morgan has employed his time in an assiduous search after know- 
ledge, in all the branches necessary for the practice of his profession, and 
has gained such esteem and love from persons of the first rank in it, that as 
they very much approve his plan, they wiU from time to time, as he assures 
us, give him their countenance and assistance in the execution of it. We 
are made acquainted with what is proposed to be taught, and how lectures 
may be adopted by you, and since the like systems have brought much ad- 
vantage to every plan where they have been received, and such learned and 
eminent men speak favourably of the Doctor's plan, I could not but in the 
most kind manner recommend him to you, and desire that he may be weU 
received, and what he has to offer be taken, with all becoming respect and 
expedition, into your most serious consideration; and if it shall be thought 
necessary to go into it, and thereupon to offer professorships, that he may 
be taken into your service." 

"When you have heard him, and duly considered what he has to lay be- 
fore you, you will be best able to judge in what manner you can serve the 
public, the institution, and the particular design now recommended to you. 
I am, gentleman, 

Your affectionate friend, 

THOMAS PENN." 

London, February 15th, 1765, 



28 HISTORY OF THE 

powerfully tended to advance the profession in knowledge, 
reputation, and usefulness. 

In the following September, Dr. William Shippen, upon 
application to the board, was unanimously chosen professor 
of anatomy and surgery. Dr. Adam Kuhn was afterwards 
made professor of botany and materia medica, and Dr. Ben- 
jamin Rush, of chemistry. This last appointment was pre- 
ceded by a letter from the proprietors to the trustees, written 
at the request of Dr. Fothergill, recommending Dr. Rush 
to their notice as an expert chemist, and requesting their 
acceptance of a suitable chemical apparatus. At the same 
time that instruction was given to the students by these gen- 
tlemen in their respective branches, a course of clinical lec- 
tures was delivered by Dr. Thomas Bond, in the Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital. 

In the year 1767, a system of rules was adopted, necessa- 
ry for the proper organization of this new school. Two 
grades of medical honours were established, corresponding 
with those in the department of the arts and sciences. The 
qualifications for the first degree, or that of bachelor in me- 
dicine, were a competent acquaintance with the Latin lan- 
guage, and with those branches of mathematics and natural 
philosophy which were deemed necessary prerequisites to 
a good medical education; the serving of a sufiicient appren- 
ticeship with some reputable practitioner of physic; a general 
knowledge of pharmacy; and finally, an attendance upon at 
least one complete course of lectures, and on the practice of 
the hospital for one year. To obtain the degree of doctor of 
medicine, it was necessary that the applicant should have 
been a bachelor of medicine for at least three years, should have 
attained the age of twenty-four, should write a thesis, and, ex- 
cept in cases of absence abroad, or in some distant part of the 
colonies, should defend this thesis publicly in the college. 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 29 

It will be perceived that this system differs materially from 
that now in operation; and the modern has, in several re- 
spects, a decided advantage. Perhaps it would have been 
well to preserve that regulation, which demanded a previous 
knowledge of the Latin language, the neglect of which is 
too common among medical students of the present day. 

The first medical coiAmencement was held on the 21st of 
June, 1768, when the following gentlemen received their 
bachelor's degree: — John Archer of Newcastle county, Ben- 
jamin Cowell of Bucks, Samuel Duffield and Jonathan Potts 
of Philadelphia, Jonathan Elmer of N. Jersey, Humphrey 
Fullerton of Lancaster county, David Jackson of Chester 
county, John Lawrence of E. Jersey, James Tilton of Kent 
county on Delaware, and Nicholas Way of Wilmington. 

Such was the origin of a school, which, by the talents and 
industry of its successive teachers, has attained a station little 
inferior to that of the most celebrated in Europe; which has 
for a long time diffused medical knowledge, in copious 
streams, over the whole of this widely extended country, 
and given birth to numerous similar institutions, emulous of 
their parent school in honour and usefulness; which, while 
it affords to its officers a dignity in rank and an affluence in 
subsistence beyond any other private association on the con- 
tinent, at the same time imparts to the city in which it is 
located, a degree of prosperity and reputation which the most 
sanguine of its founders never ventured to anticipate from 
its operations. 



30 HISTORY OP THE 



CHAPTER V. 



FINANCES OF THE COLLEGE. 

Our view of the college would be incomplete without 
some account of its financial concerns. The original fund 
with which the trustees ventured on their undertaking was 
the sum of two thousand pounds, payable in five annual in- 
stalments, subscribed by the individual members of the board. 
To this sum a very considerable addition was soon made by 
subscriptions, on the same terms, obtained among the inhabit- 
ants of the city; and the resources of the institution were after- 
wards augmented by donations* and legacies, by public col- 
lections in churchest and at the commencements, and by the 
proceeds of lotteries. $ From these various sources, in the 

* I observed in the minutes of the board, an acknowledg'ment of the re- 
ceipt of one hundred pounds from "a company of comedians," being tlie 
profits of a play which they had represented for the benefit of the free school. 
The collection of so considerable a sum, on such an occasion, is a singular 
evidence either of the charity, or of the play-going propensities of tliose 
times. It seems that tliis mode of increasing tlieir revenue did not meet with 
the unanimous approbation of the ti'ustees, for it is stated in the minutes that 
a majority were in favour of receiving the donation. 

■j- The sermons of Whitfield were most productive. One which he 
preached at the request of the trustees, for tlie benefit of the charity schools, 
and for which tliey returned hun tlieir "sincere andheai-ty tlianks," yielded 
more than one hundi'ed pounds. 

i: Considemble opposition was made to this mode of raising moneys and, 
at one time, a law was passed prohibiting lotteries altogether: but it was 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 31 

course of twelve years from the first establishment of the 
academy, the amount derived was not less than seven thou- 
sand pounds sterling; and if to this be added the profits of 
tuition, and benefactions from the proprietors in money and 
land, to the value of at least three thousand pounds, received 
during the same period, there will appear to have been no 
deficiency of funds for carrying the designs of the founders 
of the seminary into full efiect. Of the donations from the 
proprietors, five hundred pounds accompanied their grant of 
the first charter, and nearly three thousand acres of land, 
situated in Bucks county, being the fourth part of the manor 
of Perkasie, were conveyed to the trustees by Thos. Penn, 
on the condition that, if the institution should fail of success, 
the land should revert to himself or his heirs. The fee sim- 
ple of this land was, at a subsequent period, vested in the 
trustees, and the farms into which it was divided were sold 
upon mortgage; but as the conditions of the sale were not 
complied with, the greater number of them have reverted 
to the institution, and now constitute a part of the real estate 
of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Though the resources of the college were amply sufiicient 
to meet all the immediate demands upon them, and, at the end 
of twelve years, a considerable surplus remained in the hands 
of the trustees, beside the clear possession of the college 
ground and buildings, yet, as the interest accruing from this 
surplus, even with the addition of the receipts for tuition, 
would by no means be adequate to the proper support of the 
school, which would, therefore, still be left dependent upon the 
precarious supplies of private contributions and lotteries, it 
was thought advisable to look about for some means of pro- 
soon afterwards repealed. Six or seven lotteries w ,»re at various times set 
on foot for tlie benefit of the institution; from two of which, upwards of four 
thousand pounds, currency, were collected. 



32 HISTORY OF THE 

curing such a sum of money, as, when united to that already 
possessed, and constituted into a permanent fund, might yield 
a fixed and certain income, adequate to all the wants of the 
institution. Too much had already been contributed by the 
citizens to justify an expectation that this object would be 
accomplished by a further appeal to their public spirit; and 
the legislature of the province wanted either the ability or 
inclination to yield any assistance. The attention of the 
trustees was, therefore, directed abroad; and as Dr. Smith, 
on his return from Europe, had reported that many of the 
best and most influential personages in England were favoura- 
bly disposed to the institution, it was determined to seek, 
from the liberality of the mother country, those supplies 
which were not to be obtained in the colonies. The nu- 
merous and highly respectable acquaintance which the provost 
had formed, and the esteem in which he was held in Great 
Britain, naturally designated him as the most suitable person 
to act as the representative of the trustees on this occasion; 
and they accordingly requested him to undertake, in that 
capacity, another voyage across the Atlantic, promising the 
payment of all his expenses, and the continuance, during his 
absence, of the salary attached to the provostship. Dr. 
Smith cheerfully complied with the request; and, being fur- 
nished with the proper written power, sailed for England, 
where he arrived early in the year 1762. Persons of very 
high station and authority became interested in the success 
of his mission; and ft was recommended, in order that the 
application from the trustees might come with greater weight, 
and the charity be rendered more universal, that a royal 
brief should be obtained, authorizing a collection to be made 
throughout the kingdom. Some embarrassment, however, 
was at first experienced in consequence of a similar applica- 
tion from the college of N. York, which, it was feared, if 
urged in opposition to that from Philadelphia, would mate- 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 33 

rially interfere with its success, and, by the disgust which 
such rivalry is apt to excite, would operate greatly to the 
disadvantage of both schools. To remedy this inconvenience, 
Dr. Smith was induced, by the advice of his friends, to unite 
with Dr. Jay, the agent from New York, in a joint applica- 
tion, agreeing to share with him equally all the advantages 
which might result. An event very favourable to their pur- 
pose was at this juncture offered in the birth of a prince; and 
to his present majesty, George the Fourth, is perhaps, in some 
measure, owing the favour which their project experienced 
from his royal father. On so joyful an occasion, the king 
and his council could not refuse their countenance to a work 
of benevolence; and not only was a brief, as ample in the 
powers it conferred as they could desire, procured, but his 
majesty was pleased to give them also the influence of his 
example by himself becoming a contributor. The agents 
were not backward in availing themselves of the opportunity 
thus afforded them; and their success was even superior to 
their expectations. Dividing the country between them, 
they travelled throughout England; visited many parts of 
Scotland and Ireland; and where they could not themselves 
be present, employed the services of friends, and endeavoured 
to make a favourable impression by the distribution of circu- 
lar letters, setting forth the nature of the charity, and strongly 
urging its claims upon the favour of the benevolent. Dr. 
Smith was especially remarked for his indefatigable exertion 
and skilful management. So highly, indeed, were his ser- 
vices appreciated by the trustees, that they not only took 
every opportunity of conveying to him the strongest ex- 
pression of their approbation and confidence, but, on his re- 
turn, received him, at a meeting of the board called for that 
special purpose, with the highest marks of satisfaction and 
respect, and unanimously voted him their thanks for the 
** great zeal, diligence, ability, and address which he ha^ 

5 



34 HISTORY OF THE 

shown in the management of this collection." At a subse- 
quent meeting, they gave him a still stronger testimony of 
their consideration in the grant of one hundred pounds a-year, 
which was to be considered, " not as an addition to the 
salary of provost, but solely as a reward for his personal ser- 
vices in England." The individuals in Great Britain who 
most interested themselves in this affair of the two colleges, 
and whose influence, both in obtaining the brief, and after- 
wards in promoting the collection, was of most importance, 
were the archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the English 
church ; the Rev. Dr. Chandler, who was considered at the 
head of the dissenting interest; and Thomas and Richard 
Penn, the proprietors of the province, who themselves con- 
tributed five hundred pounds. To these gentlemen letters 
had been originally written by the trustees, requesting their 
aid ; and their exertions, particularly those of the archbishop 
and of Dr. Chandler were the more praiseworthy, as it was 
expressly understood that the objects of the college were not 
to promote any sectarian interests, but that its doors were 
open indiscriminately to individuals of every religious persua- 
sion, whether in the capacity of officers, or of students. The 
collection was completed by the end of the year 1763, and 
the share of it which fell to the Philadelphia college amount- 
ed to more than six thousand pounds sterling. According to 
the original intention of the trustees, this sum was considered 
as a permanent fund, of which the interest only was to be ap- 
plied to the purposes of the college ; and the different por- 
tions of it, as they were received, were immediately invested 
in the best securities, generally in mortgages accompanied 
with a bond and judgment. 

The finances of the college might now be considered in a 
good condition ; as the income from its real estate and other 
investments, united with the money for tuition, and the casual 
receipts from various sources, were sufficient for its support. 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 35 

No further efibrts, therefore, were for some time made to 
augment its permanent fund ; but as it was highly desirable 
that the institution should be wholly independent of preca- 
rious supplies, and some inconvenience was occasionally ex- 
perienced from the emptiness of the treasury, the trustees, 
about ten years after their application to the British nation, 
resolved to set on foot another subscription in the colonies. 
Their first attempt was made in South Carolina, where the 
college was well known, and many wealthy individuals were 
supposed to be willing to contribute liberally towards its 
maintenance. Nor were their expectations disappointed. 
During a short visit which Dr. Smith was induced, at the re- 
quest of the board, to make to Charleston, in the winter of 
1771-2, he succeeded, without much difficulty, in procuring 
a large subscription, from which upwards of one thousand 
pounds sterling were ultimately realized. In the following 
spring, a proposition was made to institute a collection in the 
West Indies ; and Dr. Morgan, one of the medical professors, 
having expressed a willingness to undertake the business, re- 
ceived from the board the necessary authority, and soon af- 
terwards sailed for Jamaica. In this island alone, to which, 
on account of great losses sustained by a severe hurricane in 
other parts of the English West Indies, he was directed to 
confine his exertions, the subscriptions amounted to six thou- 
sand pounds, of the Jamaica currency. How much of this 
was actually collected, I have not been able to ascertain. A 
large portion of it was probably lost, in consequence of the 
confusion in which the affairs of the colonies were subse- 
quently involved. It appears, however, from the minutes, 
that when Dr. Morgan gave in his accounts, towards the end 
of the year 1773, an amount equal to at least two thousand 
pounds sterling had been received, and the profits of his voy- 
age, at the lowest calculation, may be stated at this sum. 
Beside the contributions from Carolina, and the West Indies, 



36 HISTORY OF THE 

a very considerable sum was subscribed in Philadelphia and 
the neighbourhood; so that there was every reason to expect, 
that the permanent income of the college would, for the fu- 
ture, be amply sufficient to defray all its necessary expenses. 

But the troubles of the revolutionary war, which now 
broke out, very materially impaired its resources. One of 
the first effects of this contest upon the institution was a di- 
minution in the number of students, and a consequent falling 
off, to an equal extent, of the receipts for tuition. In the 
spring of 1779, there were only about twenty members of 
the college classes, and eighty boys belonging to the gram- 
mar school and academy; and, at a previous period of the 
revolution, the numbers had been still less. The income of 
the college was also greatly diminished by the compelled re- 
ceipt of depreciated paper in payment of rent and interest; and 
much loss of capital was experienced, in consequence of the 
discharge, in the same paper, of the bonds and mortgages in 
which a great portion of the funds was invested. At the 
same time that the resources were thus impaired, an enor- 
mous advance in the price of almost every necessary, ren- 
dered an augmentation of the salaries of the teachers indis- 
pensable, and thus very greatly increased the expenses. To 
such an extent was this the case, that at the opening of the 
schools, after a temporary suspension arising from the occu- 
pation of Philadelphia by the British army, it was found ab- 
solutely necessary to double all the salaries, in order that the 
professors might obtain a livelihood. 

To compensate, in some measure, for this reduction of 
receipts and increase of expenditure, it was resolved, soon 
after the resumption of the duties of the college, in the 
fall of 1778, to make one more application to the citizens 
for aid. From a report made to the legislature, in the 
succeeding year, relative to the state of the schools, it ap. 
pears, that this application resulted in the subscription of 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 37 

twelve hundred pounds, currency, to be paid annually for 
three years. From the same report it also appears, that 
the property of the college, at that time, consisted, 1. of 
the lots and buildings in Fourth Street, including the 
academy, the boarding-house to the north of it, and four 
dwelling-houses in the immediate vicinity; — 2, of a farm 
and mills at Norristown, containing five hundred and seven- 
ty-two acres, purchased with the money received in dis- 
charge of bonds and mortgages formerly held by the trus- 
tees; — 3. of the Perkasie lands in Bucks county, presented 
by Thomas Penn, and containing nearly three thousand 
acres; — and 4. of moneys placed out at interest, amounting to 
somewhat more than five thousand pounds. The whole in- 
come from this estate, independently of the college building, 
and of two dwelling-houses occupied by professors, amounted 
only to six hundred and seventy pounds, together with five 
hundred bushels of wheat, or its value in currency, the lat- 
ter item being the rent of the mills and farm at Norristown. 
The entire inadequacy of this income to the demands made 
upon it, will be rendered obvious by the simple statement, 
that the salary of the provost alone, over and above the rent 
of the house in which he lived, was, at the period of the re- 
port, not less than seven hundred pounds, and was soon af- 
terwards increased to fourteen hundred pounds, which, in 
consequence of the depreciation of the currency, and the rise 
in the price of necessaries, was considered no more than 
equal to one quarter of that sum before the revolution. It 
will be perceived, hereafter, that the poverty of the college 
was made a pretext by the legislature for interfering in its 
concerns, and was one of the ostensible causes of a complete 
revolution in its affairs. 

Before speaking of those proceedings of the legislature 
which led to this result, and which constitute a new era in 
the history of the institution, it will not be deemed irrele- 



38 HISTORY OF THE 

vant to give a brief statement of the salaries of the officers, 
and the cost of tuition at different periods, from its origin to 
this time. Such statements are interesting; as they enter 
into our means of estimating the character of particular pe- 
riods of history, and in some measure enable us, by com- 
paring the past with the present, to judge of the progress or 
decline of society. 

When the academy first went into operation, the rector 
received a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds, Pennsyl- 
vania currency, which on the appointment of Dr. Allison 
was augmented to two hundred pounds; and the salary of 
Dr. Smith, when chosen provost of the college, was fixed at 
the same sum. The other professors received from one hun- 
dred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty pounds each, 
and the ushers, from sixty to seventy pounds. It would ap- 
pear that these sums, small as they would now be considered, 
were m those economical times sufficient for the decent sup- 
port of the teachers: for they remained without increase for 
several years; and there were few instances of resignation of 
office, on the ground of inadequate compensation. By the 
year 1761, however, an advance seems to have taken place 
in the cost of living, which rendered an augmentation of the 
salaries necessary. That of the provost was accordingly raised 
to two hundred and fifty pounds, and the others in nearly the 
same proportion. It has already been stated, that Dr. Smith, 
after completing the collection in Great Britain, received 
from the trustees, as a reward for his services, the gratuity 
of one hundred pounds annually, independent of his salary; 
so that his income from the college now amounted to three 
hundred and fifty pounds. In a letter, however, written to 
the board, in the year 1774, he states, that, on account of '* the 
advanced price of necessaries, and the growing expense of a 
growing family," he finds it impossible, with all decent atten- 
tion to frugality, to make this sum answer for his support; and. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 39 

in a modest way, reminding the trustees of his services to the 
institution, he requests them to provide him with a house, and 
promises, whatever may happen in the future, to make no 
farther demand upon them. His request was unanimously 
complied with; and a spacious mansion was erected on the 
college grounds, in which he continued to reside till the col- 
lege itself passed into other hands.* The example of the 
provost was soon followed by the other professors; and most 
of them obtained the right of a dwelling in addition to their 
salary. The effect of the depreciation of the currency, and 
of the increased expense of living, during the revolutionary 
war, upon the nominal amount of the salaries, has been al- 
ready noticed. 

The cost of tuition for the students of the college was 
originally four pounds a-year, with the addition of six shil- 
lings for fire-wood, and an entrance fee of twenty shillings. 
The expense of graduation was four pounds. In the year 
1757, an attempt was made to raise the price of tuition to 
ten pounds per annum; but as other colleges continued to re- 
tain the lower rate, the attempt proved unsuccessful, and the 
old price was resumed. The charge for boarding, in the 
college buildings, w^as twenty-five pounds fifteen shillings a- 
year; so that, for the very moderate annual sum of about 
thirty pounds or eighty dollars, a young man might, at that 
period, receive his support in the first city, and his educa- 
tion in one of the highest seminaries of English America. 
During the revolution it was found necessary, from the same 
causes which induced an increase in the salaries of the pro- 
fessors, to raise the price of tuition first to twelve, and after- 
wards to twenty pounds a-year. 

* The house erected for Dr. Snaith, was that large building which still 
stands at the south-west comer of Fourth and] Mulbeny Streets. All the 
ground and dwelling-houses, situated between this and the academy, were 
the property of the college. 



40 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER VI. 



ABROGATION OF THE CHARTER OF THE COLLEGE BY THE 
PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 

I HAVE before alluded to the suspension of the duties of 
the college, in consequence of the occupation of Philadelphia 
by the British army, and to their resumption immediately 
after the city was evacuated. The schools were closed in 
the month of June, 1777, and were again opened in Septem- 
ber of the following year. The institution, however, had 
been but a short time in renewed operation, when it expe- 
rienced, in the disposition of the prevailing political party 
and of their representatives in the legislature, an hostility 
much more injurious to its interests than the presence of the 
.enemy. The causes of this hostility it is difficult, at the pre- 
sent time, exactly to understand. The provost, who, from 
his long and very important services, and the success with 
which his exertions had been attended, was, in the public 
estimation, almost identified with the school itself, had, by 
his attachment to the proprietors, in their former disputes 
with the legislature, rendered himself highly unpopular 
with a numerous party before the war; and his foreign birth, 
his clerical office in the English church, the honours he had 
received from the loyal university of Oxford, and the favour 
in which he stood with men of high station in Great Britain, 
were circumstances which, as they might naturally give his 
partialities a direction towards the mother country, tended 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 41 

no doubt, at the commencement of the revolution, to in- 
crease the enmity of those who were attached to the cause 
of independence. Among the trustees of the college, also, 
were many who were known to be unfavourable to the 
new order of things, some of whom indeed had left the 
country and openly joined the enemy. V/hen to these 
considerations we add the fact, that the institution had been 
fostered by English liberality, had been largely endowed 
by the proprietors, and had even enjoyed the smiles of the 
king, while from the legislature of the colony it had expe- 
rienced only neglect, we can feel no surprise that it should 
have been suspected of a strong attachment to the royal in- 
terest, and therefore regarded by many with feelings of 
unkindness and distrust. 

But whatever may have been the inclinations of those in 
whom the direction of its affairs resided, no public act had 
been committed which could afford ground for offence. On 
the contrary, care was taken to cultivate the good will of the 
new authorities; and at the commencement which succeeded 
the first assemblage of the continental congress in Philadel- 
phia, the delegates, by the invitation of the trustees, pro- 
ceeded in a body from the State House to the college, and 
thus gave it a strong testimony of their approval. 

To guard still further against the effects of that political 
excitement which, there was reason to fear, might be directed 
fatally against the institution, it had been provided by those 
interested in its favour, that the sanction of positive law 
should be brought in aid of its other claims to the respect at 
least, if not to the support of the citizens. In the summer 
of 1776, while the convention of Pennsylvania was engaged 
in framing a constitution for the government of the common- 
wealth. Dr. Smith, having assembled at his house a few gen- 
tlemen connected with corporate bodies, proposed that they 
should endeavour to procure the insertion in the constitution 



42 HISTORY OP THE 

of an article, securing the inviolability of chartered rights. 
Such an article, drawn up by Dr. Smith, was approved by 
the meeting; and Dr. Franklin, who was present, undertook 
to procure its adoption by the convention, over which body 
he presided, and in the councils of which he was known to 
possess considerable influence. Hence originated that clause 
of the constitution of 1776, which secured to all societies 
<^ incorporated for the advancement of religion and learning, 
or for other pious or charitable purposes," the enjoyment of 
those rights and privileges of which they were possessed un- 
der the former laws of the commonwealth. But, to use the 
language of the venerable Bishop White, who was one of the 
gentlemen assembled at Dr. Smith's, and from whom the 
above account was derived, ^* the event showed of what lit- 
tle effect are provisions put on paper, when they interfere 
with the views of a dominant party in politics." 

The first symptom of any disposition in the public autho- 
rities to interfere in the concerns of the college, was exhi- 
bited in a vote of the general assembly, in the month of 
February, 1779, directing an inquiry into the rise, design, 
and condition of the institution, and appointing a committee 
for this purpose, with the customary powers to send for per- 
sons and papers. In answer to questions proposed by this 
committee, a long paper was, at the desire of the board, 
drawn up by Dr. Smith, which was inserted in the minutes, 
and contains an ample account of the origin of the school, the 
motives and principles of its establishment, the success 
which had attended its efforts, and the state of its affairs at 
the time of the investigation. From this paper many of the de- 
tails of the present history have been derived; and it will be 
readily judged, by those who may have perused the preced- 
ing statements, that nothing but a predetermined resolution to 
admit of no justification would have resisted the plain evi- 
dence of the facts which it advanced in favour of the college. 
Nor is it impossible that' some impression may have been 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 43 

produced by it upon the minds of the members of assembly; 
for either on this account, or from the press of more impor- 
tant business, an adjournment of the legislature took place, 
without any decision on the subject. But the fate of the in- 
stitution was only postponed for a few months. At the 
opening of the next session, in the month of September, its 
affairs were again brought before the legislature in the mes- 
sage of Mr. Reed, president of the executive council. The 
obligation of the oath of allegiance to the king of Great Bri- 
tain exacted by the charter; an indisposition on the part of 
the trustees to seek the aid of the new government for an 
establishment consistent with the principles of the revolution; 
and a general inattention, in the management of the school, 
to the interests of this government, were alleged in the mes- 
sage as reasonable grounds for legislative interference; and 
the lawfulness of such interference was maintained upon the 
principle, that, in the revolution of states, it becomes not 
only allowable, but necessary, so to modify pre-existing cor- 
porations, whether civil, literary, or religious, as to bring 
them into harmony with the new political arrangements. 

Unfortunately for the college. Dr. Franklin, who was one 
of its most influential trustees, was now absent in Europe; 
and the activity of its enemies, which might have been re- 
strained by his presence and authority, was allowed full scope 
to display itself. The assembly seems not to have required 
the instigation of the president to sharpen its animosity, or to 
invigorate its proceedings; for with a precipitation unusual 
in a matter so important and so little requiring haste, a law 
was enacted, abrogating in fact the former charters granted 
by the proprietors, and removing from their offices in the 
institution, the trustees, provost, vice-provost, professors, 
and all others attached to it by any tie of authority or de- 
pendence. It is true that a preparatory committee was ap-' 
pointed; and, when the charges were brought before the 



44 HISTORY OP THE 

house, the trustees were allowed to appear by council in their 
defence: but the committee seems to have been chosen ra- 
ther to search for matter of accusation than to investigate the 
truth; and it was but a show of justice to hear the repre- 
sentations of the accused, when the resolution was already 
firmly taken to disregard them. 

The charges brought forward by the committee in their 
report, from which two out of their number were sufficiently 
conscientious to express their dissent, were chiefly the fol- 
lowing: — that an oath of allegiance to the British govern- 
ment was, by the charter, a necessary prerequisite to any 
official act; that several of the trustees, having joined the 
British army, stood attainted as traitors, and others had not, 
by taking the test, qualified themselves legally to fulfil the 
duties of their office; that the corporation had shown in its 
conduct an evident hostility to the government and constitu- 
tion of the state; that its funds were utterly inadequate to the 
proper support of a seminary of learning; and, finally, that the 
original and fundamental principle of the college, by which 
it was bound to affiard perfect equality of privileges to all re- 
ligious denominations, had not been fully maintained. 

The frivolity of these charges will be rendered evident by 
the slightest examination. The oath of allegiance demanded 
by the charter was abrogated by the revolution, with all other 
oaths which connected the provinces with the mother coun- 
try. The political conduct and opinions of individual mem- 
bers of the board could operate only to their own disfran- 
chisement, not to the injury of those who remained, nor to 
the destruction of the corporate rights of the whole body. 
The alleged hostility of the corporation to the government 
and constitution of the state was a matter altogether of feel- 
ing, and could not be proved by any public or private act of 
the body accused. A careful examination of the minutes of 
the board will on the contrary evince, that care was taken to 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 45 

avoid all political interference; and submission to the laws 
enacted by the new government should have been accepted 
as a sufficient evidence of allegiance, without an invidious 
and inquisitorial examination into private feeling and opinion. 
The inadequacy of the funds to the proper support of the 
school, though an excellent reason for legislative assistance, 
certainly afforded no excuse for taking away the little of 
which it was already in possession. The last accusation, 
that of religious partiality, was the most serious; as it involved 
a violation of the fundamental laws of the institution, an evi- 
dent departure from the intention of the founders, and an in- 
fringement of those conditions upon which the contributions 
of the benevolent had at different periods been so largely ob- 
tained. Accordingly, this was the only charge which the 
legislature thought proper to countenence by adoption into 
the preamble of their act; and upon this, together with their 
general right of controlling the operation of seminaries of 
learning, derived from their beneficial or injurious influence, 
according as they are well or ill conducted, over the peace 
and welfare of society, they grounded their proceedings in 
the present case. 

The following are the first two sections of the act: — 
*' Whereas the education of youth has ever been found to 
be of the most essential consequence, as well to the good go- 
vernment of states, and the peace and welfare of society, as 
to the profit and ornament of individuals, insomuch that from 
the experience of all ages, it appears that seminaries of learn- 
ing, when properly conducted, have been public blessings to 
mankind, and that on the contrary, when in the hands of 
dangerous and disaffected men, they have troubled the peace 
of society, shaken the government, and often caused tumult, 
sedition, and bloodshed: *^nd whereas the college, academy, 
and charitable school of the city of Philadelphia, were at 
first founded on a plan of free and unlimited Catholicism; but 



46 HISTORY OF THE 

it appears that the trustees thereof, by a vote or by-law of 
their board, bearing date the 14//i day of June ^ in the year 
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, 
have departed from the plan of the original founders, and 
narrowed the foundation of the said institution. Be it there- 
fore enacted, &c." 

Now from an examination of the minutes of the board 
of trustees on the day referred to, so far from discovering 
any vote or resolve which, by the severest construction, 
would give the least countenance to this charge of ^^narrow- 
ing the foundation" of the college, we find abundant evidence 
of a determination on the part of the board to <^ adhere strict- 
ly to the faith pledged to all religious denominations.'^ 

Dr. Smith, on his return from England, after having com- 
pleted the great collection in that country, brought with him 
a letter to the board, signed by the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, by the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and by Dr. Chand- 
ler, the object of which was to represent to the trustees the 
propriety of adopting ''a fundamental rule or declaration," 
binding themselves to preserve inviolate the original broad 
and liberal plan of the seminary, and thus preventing those 
unpleasant jealousies and contentions, which could not but 
spring from a suspicion of undue partiality to any one reli- 
gious sect* The sentiments of the letter were approved by 

* The following is the letter alluded to: — 

To the trustees of the coUeg-e, &c. of Philadelphia. 

Gentlemen, — ^\Ve cannot omit the opportunity which Dr. Smith's return 
to Philadelphia gives us of congratulating you on the great success of the 
collection which he came to pursue, and of acknowledging your obliging 
addresses of tlianks to us for the share we had in recommending and cncou- 
i-aging this design. Such a mark of your attention to us will, wc doubt not, 
excuse our hinting to you what we think may be further necessary to a due 
improvement of this collection, and the futm'c prosperity of the institution 
under your care. 

This institution you have professed to ha^c been originally founded and 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 47 

the board, and a declaration of the nature desired having 
been drawn up and inserted in the minute book, was signed 
not only by all those who at that time filled the office of 
trustee, but afterwards, in compliance with a clause of the 
declaration itself, by every new trustee after his election, 
and before he could be admitted to a seat at the board.* In 
their answer to the archbishop, copied into the minutes of 
June 14th, 1764, the trustees, after expressing their thanks for 

hitherto carried on for the general benefit of a mixed body of people. In 
his majesty's royal brief, it is represented as a seminary that would be of 
great use "for raising up able instructors and teachers, as well for the ser- 
vice of the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, as for other 
protestant denominations in the colonies." 

At the time of granting this collection, which was solicited by the provost, 
who is a clergyman of the church of England, it was known that there were 
united with him a vice-provost who is a Presbyterian, and a principal pro- 
fessor of the Baptist persuasion, with sundry inferior professors and tutors, 
all carrying on the education of youth with gi'eat harmony: and people of va- 
rious denominations have hereupon contributed Uberally and freely. 

But jealousies now arising lest this foundation should afterwards be nar- 
rowed, and some party endeavour to exclude the rest, or put them on a worse 
footing than they have been from the beginning, or were at the time of this 
collection, which might not only be deemed unjust in itself, but might like- 
wise be productive of contentions unfriendly to learning and hurtful to reli- 
gion; we would therefore recommend it to you, to make some fundamental 
rule or declai'ation to prevent inconveniences of this kind; in doing of wliich, 
the more closely you keep in view the plan on which the seminary was at 
the time of obtaining the royal brief, and on wliich it has been carried on 
from the beginning, so much the less cause we think you will give for any 
party to be dissatisfied. 

Wishing continual prosperity and peace to tlie institution, we are, with 

great regard, &c. Sec. 

THOMAS, CANT. 

THOMAS and RICHARD PENN. 

SAMUEL CHANDLER. 

LojTDosr, April 9th, 1764. 

* This document is interesting, both as it disproves the chai'ge of rehgious 
partiality, and as it presents, in tlie signatures affixed to it, a complete list 
of the trustees at the time of its insertion in the minutes, and of those who 
afterwards became trustees, witli tlie date of their election, down to the pe- 



48 HISTORV OP THE 

his attention to the prosperity of their school, and announcing 
their compliance with his advice, take occasion to observe, 
that they should always evince towards the national church 
every mark of regard consistent with their faith pledged to 
other religious denominations, and with that plan of Chris- 
tian liberty upon which the institution was founded. A si- 
milar sentiment is expressed in their letters to Dr. Chandler 
and the proprietors, also copied into the minutes of June 
14th; and in no other part of the minutes of that date, ex- 
cept in the joint letter and document above alluded to, is 
any reference whatever made to difference of religious per- 
suasion. Upon the passages here referred to, the legislature 
must have rested their accusation; and a more striking in- 
stance could hardly be offered of that blindness and perversion 
of judgment to which the best men are liable, when under 
the influence of violent political excitement. 

riod when the college was finally incorporated with the University. It is as 
follows: — 

"The trustees being ever desirous to promote the peace and prosperity 
of this seminary, and to give satisfaction to all its worthy benefactors, have 
taken the above letter into their serious consideration, and perfectly ap- 
proving the sentiments therein contained, do order the same to be inserted 
in their books, that it may remain perpetually declaratory of tlie present 
wide and excellent plan of this institution, which hath not only met with the 
approbation of the great and worthy personages above mentioned, but even 
the royal sanction of his majesty himself. Theyfuilher decbre that they 
will keep this plan closely in their view, and use their utmost endeavours 
that the same be not narrowed, nor the members of the church of England, 
or those dissenting from tliem (in any future election to the principal of- 
fices mentioned in the aforesaid letter) be put on any worse footing in this 
seminaiy than they were at the time of obtaining the royal brief. They sub- 
scribe tills with their names, and ordain that the same be read and subscribed 
by every new trustee that shall hereafter be elected, before he takes liis scat 
at the board." 

RICHARD PETERS, President, &c. 

It should be observed that the joint letter referred to, and tills document, 
arc both inserted in the minutes of June 14tli, 1764, Uie date alluded to iu 
the preamble of the law. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 49 

But even admitting that the legislature might have had 
cause of dissatisfaction in the management of the seminary; 
admitting also that, during the struggles of a great revolu- 
tion, the government has a right to modify pre-existing char- 
tered institutions, so as to bring them into perfect harmony 
with the new order of affairs; yet, in the present case, the 
right to such interference was expressly denied by the very 
instrument by which the government itself was created, and 
continued to hold its existence. The constitution of 1776 
was then the supreme law of the land ; and in this constitu- 
tion a clause had been inserted with the express purpose of 
affording protection to the college, and other literary and re- 
ligious corporations in the state. The tribunals of justice 
were open to the government as well as to individuals, and 
for any illegal proceedings the trustees might have been 
prosecuted in the regular way, with a certainty of convic- 
tion. The mode adopted by the legislature evinced their 
sense of the weakness of their cause; and their decision, so 
far as we have the means at present of forming a judgment,, 
was accordant rather with the spirit of despotism, than with 
that justice and moderation which should characterize the. 
representatives of a free people. 



50 



HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER VII. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

The enmity which had thus triumphed over the authori- 
ties of the college, was not extended to the objects for which 
it had been established. On the contrary, having transferred 
the rights and property vested in the former trustees into 
more friendly hands, the legislature took the institution into 
favour, endowed it with lands out of the confiscated estates 
to the annual value of fifteen hundred pounds, and by the 
right of adoption, conferred upon it the new and more lofty 
title of University of Pennsylvania. The board appointed 
by the act of assembly consisted of three distinct sets of in- 
dividuals. The first was composed of certain members of 
the government who possessed a seat at the board in virtue 
of their several offices; the second, of the ''senior ministers 
in standing" of the six principal sects in Philadelphia; and 
the third, of individuals selected for their attachment to the 
revolution, which, in most of them, was evinced by the pos- 
session of high public stations in the commonwealth.* By 

* The following is a list of the members of the board: — 
Of the first division— those, namely, who held their places by virtue of 
their offices under the commonwealth, were 

1- The president of the supreme executive council — Joseph Reed; 

2. The vice-president of the council — William Moore; 

3. The speaker of the general assembly — John Bayard; 

4. The chief justice of the supreme court — Thomas M'Kean; 

5. The judge of the admiralty — Francis Hopkinson; 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 51 

these appointments, it will be perceived that the legislature 
fully provided for the political fidelity of the University, 
and its perfect impartiality towards all religious denomina- 
tions; and these ends were still more firmly secured by the 
reservation of the right, within six months after the choice 
of any new trustee, to disapprove and annul the election. 
Whether the real interest of the institution was consulted by 
placing it in the hands of men, whose public engagements 
might be supposed sufiicient to occupy their whole attention, 
was a question which could not be readily answered, and 
was perhaps considered of secondary importance. 

The new trustees met for the first time in December 1779, 
and having taken the oath or affirmation at that time pre- 
scribed by law, organized themselves into a board, and ap- 
pointed his excellency, Joseph Reed, their president. How- 
ever dissatisfied with the late decision, the former authorities 
of the college did not venture to resist the will of the go- 
vernment, and quietly resigned their property to their ap- 

6. The attorney g-eneral — Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant 
The second division consisted of 

1. The senior minister of the Episcopal churches — Rev. VVm. White; 

2. The senior minister of the Presbyterian churches — Rev. John Ewlng"; 

3. The senior minister of the Lutheran chui'ches — Rev. John Christopher 
Kunze; 

4. The senior minister of the German Calvinist churches^ Rev. Casparus 
Weiberg; 

5. The senior minister of the Baptist churches ; 

6. The senior minister of the Roman churches — Rev. Ferdinand Far- 
mer. 

The gentlemen composing the third division were Dr. Franklin, then 
minister at Paris; William Shippen, Frederick Muhlenberg, and James 
Searle, delegates from Pennsylvania in the congress of the United States; 
William Augustus Atlee, and John Evans, judges of tlie supreme court; 
Timothy Matlack, secretary of the supreme executive council; David Rlt- 
tenhouse, treasurer of the state; Jonathan Bayard Smith; Samuel Morris; 
George Bryan; Dr. Thomas Bond; and Dr. James Hutchinson. 



52 HISTORY OF THII 

pointed successors. Steps were immediately taken to ar- 
range the affairs of the school, and to select suitable indi- 
viduals to fill the vacant offices. The Rev. Dr. John Ewing, 
a trustee by right of his station in the Presbyterian church, 
was chosen provost. David Rittenhouse, the distinguished 
astronomer, also a trustee, was made a professor, with the 
title of vice-provost. The professorship of the languages 
was conferred upon the Rev. Robert Davidson, and that of 
mathematics upon James Cannon, who had been previously 
employed in the college. James Davidson, who had suc- 
ceeded Mr. Beveridge as teacher of the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages, and had been connected with the late institution for 
more than ten years, was appointed rector of the academy, 
with an authority independent of the collegiate faculty. A 
German school was added to the other branches of the semi- 
nary; and the Rev. Mr. Kunze gave up his office as one of 
the trustees, in order to accept the direction of this depart- 
ment. In the course, however, of a very few years, many 
changes were made. Mr. Rittenhouse, resigning the vice- 
provostship, was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Magaw;* 
James Davidson was made professor of the languages in the 
place of the Rev. Robert Davidson, who left the institution; 
and Robert Patterson, who had before been employed in a 
subordinate station, was appointed, as the successor of Mr. 
Cannon, to the chair of mathematics. 

Much difficulty was experienced in organizing a medical 
faculty. For more than three years there was a constant 
succession of appointments and resignations; and it was not 
till the autumn of 1783 that the affair was ultimately settled by 
the reinstatement of the former professors in the respective 
stations which they had held in the college. 

Among the incidents in the history of the university, it 

• The Bame Samuel Magaw, I suspect, who was mentioned in the list of 
;the first graduates of the coUege. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 53 

Would be improper lo pass over, w^ithout notice, an evidence 
of the kindness with which this country and its institutions 
were regarded by the government of France. In July, 1784, 
a letter was received by the board of trustees from the Mar- 
quis de Chattaleau, requesting their acceptance of a collec- 
tion of valuable books as a present from his most Christian 
Majesty, made at the instance of the Count de Vergennes 
and himself. It is unnecessary to say that this mark of 
royal favour was received with due respect, and answered 
■with a profession of their grateful sense of the honour con- 
ferred upon them. Even republicans are wont to attach a 
fictitious value to the favours of monarchs; and, in the pre- 
sent case, the munificence of the gift is still further enhanced 
by the associations which our memory forms of its royal 
author with the independence of our country and his own 
unmerited misfortunes. 

The success of the university was by no means adequate 
to the expectations, which the patronage of the legislature 
and its own advantages of situation were calculated to excite. 
It is true that the inferior schools were generally well at- 
tended; but the college classes were small, and the graduates 
few; and at no period could it boast of a prosperity equal to 
that which the college had at one time enjoyed. This de- 
ficiency of support was undoubtedly in part attributable to 
the political condition of the country, and to the competition 
of new seminaries; but other causes quite as influential were 
to be found in circumstances especially belonging to the 
university itself. The trustees, chosen principally in con- 
sequence of their public stations, not from any peculiar fit- 
ness for the office, or attachment to its duties, could not be 
expected to manifest that minute attention and vigilant care 
which had characterized their predecessors, whose long con- 
nexion with the college had almost identified its interests 
with their own. The consequences of this want of vigilance 



54 HISTORY OP THE 

in the board were evident, as well in the uncertain and fluc- 
tuating measures which were adopted, as in the condition of 
the financial concerns, which even the liberal grant of the 
legislature did not preserve from embarrassment. With the 
teachers, the unsettled state of their accounts was a frequent 
source of complaint; and the numerous changes which took 
place among them, owing probably to this as much as to 
any other cause, were calculated very materially to injure 
the reputation of the school. Besides the want of proper 
energy in the management of the university, another impe- 
diment to its prosperity existed in the unfriendly feelings 
with which it was regarded by many respectable citizens. 
Attached to the old school and its officers, and considering the 
new as having been founded in usurpation, they were dis- 
posed both from inclination and principle to prefer some dis- 
tant seminary for the education of their children; thus not 
only withdrawing their immediate support from the univer- 
sity, but arraying against it the influence of their example 
with their fellow-citizens, and the force of new attachments 
among those who were hereafter to become active members 
of society. To this period we may perhaps trace the origin 
of those partialities which have directed away from our 
highest literary institution so much of the public patronage, 
and at this moment are operating to the disadvantage and 
dishonour of the city. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 55 



CHAPTER VIII. 



RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COLLEGE.— SEPARATE EXIST; 
ENCE OF THE TWO SCHOOLS.— UNION OF THE COLLEGE 
AND UNIVERSITY. 



In the mean time the late authorities of the college were 
not quiescent under their wrongs. Dr. Smith, especially, 
was indefatigable in seeking redress for the institution and 
himself. In repeated memorials, drawn up with no little 
ability, he represented the injustice and unconstitutionality 
of the legislative proceedings in their case, and complained 
that, in his old age, dismissal from an office which he himself 
had rendered valuable should have been the only reward of 
his long and important services. Petitions, moreover, w^ere 
presented to successive legislatures, by the displaced trus- 
tees; and the support of a numerous party was not wanting 
to enforce their claims of justice. The feelings of the vene- 
rable Franklin, who was now returned from Europe, were 
known to be in their favour; for, though by the law which 
established the university he was declared one of the trus- 
tees, and afterwards, as president of the executive council^ 
had an additional right to the station, he had always declined 
qualifying himself for a seat at the board, by taking the re- 
quisite oaths. Though the public ear may for a time b& 
deafened by the rage of party, it cannot always be closed ta 
the voice of justice; and the current of opinion at length be- 



56 HISTORY OF THTE 

gan to turn in favour of the old establishment. One effort, 
indeed, to restore the college charter by legislative enact- 
ment, proved abortive; but a bill subsequently introduced 
was more successful, and in the year 1789, a law was passed 
by a great majority, which reinstated the trustees and faculty 
in all their former estates and privileges. In the preamble 
of this law, the proceedings of the legislature by which these 
estates and privileges had been transferred to the trustees of 
the university, was stigmatized as <* repugnant to justice, a 
violation of the constitution of this commonwealth, and dan* 
gerous in its precedent to all incorporated bodies;" so diffe- 
rent are the views which will be taken of the same subject 
by men in the opposite states of calmness and excitement. 

But the same sense of justice which led to the re-establish- 
ment of the college, forbade any farther interference in the 
affairs of the university than was necessary for the accom- 
plishment of this purpose. The trustees of the latter insti- 
tution, therefore, retained their corporate capacity; and,^ 
as the grant formerly made by the legislature out of the con- 
fiscated estates still remained to them, they were not left ab- 
solutely destitute of support. New buildings were provided 
for the accommodation of the schools; the faculties both in 
arts and in medicine continued their courses of instruction; 
and a yearly commencement was held as before, at which 
the various ordinary and honorary degrees were conferred. 
But the operations, which previously to this change, were 
not marked with vigour, now became still more languid; 
and after a feeble existence had been prolonged for the space 
of rather more than two years, it was found necessary, in 
order to avert total ruin, to propose a union with the rival 
seminary. 

The trustees of the college had not been negligent in avaiU 
ing themselves of the act which had been passed in their fa- 
vour. On the 9th of March, 1789, only three days after the 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 57 

final passage of the law, they met at the house of Dr. Frank- 
lin, who was the oldest member of the board, and the only 
survivor of the original founders of the institution. The in- 
firmities of the venerable patriot confined him chiefly if not 
altogether within doors, and at his request the meetings con- 
tinued to be held at his dwelling till the middle of summer, 
when the increasing severity of his disorder rendered him 
totally unable to attend to public duties. Of the twenty-four 
trustees who constituted the board at the period of its disso- 
lution, about ten years before this time, only fourteen re- 
mained; the rest having either died in the interval, or de- 
serted the country during the revolution. Their first mea- 
sures were to obtain possession of the college buildings, to 
organize the different departments of the seminary according 
to the former plan, to fill up vacancies in the various profes- 
sorships, and to supply the deficiency in their own number 
by the election of new members.* Of the professors in the 
department of the arts, Dr. Smith and James Davidson were 
the only survivors. The former, as a matter of course, took 
the place of provost; and the latter, who, as was previously 
mentioned, had been employed in the university, accepted 

* The following is a list of the trustees who were surviving' at the re-esta- 
blishment of the college: — 

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Samuel Powell, chosen - 1773 

foundei-s, in the year - 1749 Right Rev. William White, 1774 

Benjamin Chew, chosen - 1757 Robert Moi-ris, 7 

Edward Shippen, - - 1758 Francis Hopkinson, 3 " '*^ 

Thomas Willing, - - 1760 George Clymer, ") 

Dr. John Redman, - - 1763 James Wilson, C - 1773 

John Lawrence, - - 1765 Alexander Wilcocks, \ 

Thomas iVIifflin, - - 1773 

The vacancies were supplied by the choice of the following gentlemen: 

Thomas Fitzsimmons, Henry Hill, Robert Blackwell, Samuel Miles, William 

Bingham, William Lewis, John Nixon, Robert Hare, Dr. Caspar Wistar, and 

Richard Petei-s. Edward Burd and David H. Conyngham were afterwards 

chosen to supply vacancies which occurred in the board. Dr. Franklin was 

made president, and after his death, was succeeded by Bishop Wliite. 

8 



58 HISTORY OF THE 

the invitation of the trustees to resume his office of professor 
of languages in the college. The faculty was completed by 
the appointment of the Rev. Dr. John Andrews and the 
Rev. William Rogers; the former to assist the provost in in- 
structing the philosophical classes, the latter, with the title 
of professor of English and oratory, to superintend the Eng- 
lish and mathematical schools. 

Of the medical professors, Dr. Morgan was absent from 
indisposition, and died before the arrangements were com- 
pleted; and Dr. Kuhn remained connected with the univer- 
sity: so that Dr. William Shippen, professor of anatomy and 
surgery; and Dr. Rush, who succeeded Morgan in the chair 
of the practice, were at this time the only members of the 
faculty. The original number was completed by the ap- 
pointment of Dr. Wistar to the chair of chemistry and the 
institutes of medicine, and Dr. Samuel Powell Griffitts to 
that of materia medica and pharmacy. An additional pro- 
fessorship was created — that of botany and natural history; 
and Dr. Barton was chosen as its occupant. This may be 
regarded as one of the most interesting eras in the history 
of the medical school. It was now that Dr. Rush took that 
station which his genius and eloquence afterwards rendered 
so illustrious; it was now that Barton found a field for the 
display of acquirements unrivalled among his contemporary 
countrymen; it was now, moreover, that Wistar entered with- 
in those walls, which the fame of his talents as a teacher 
crowded with pupils, and about which his warm benevolence 
of heart, and delightful urbanity of manner combined to 
throw a charm, which, amidst all subsequent changes, has 
retained a strong influence over the affections of those who 
had the good fortune to listen to his instructions. 

Soon after the revival of the school, a department of law 
was added to those of the arts and of medicine. James Wil- 
son, a member of the board, was chosen professor, and dp- 



UPflVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 5S^ 

livered one or more courses of lectures; but with what suc- 
cess, I have been unable to learn. Of the estimation in 
which his talents were held by the trustees, independently 
of the evidence afiforded by his appointment, we may form 
some idea from the amount within which it was thought ne- 
cessary to limit the fee for admission to his lectures. At 
the request of Mr. Wilson that the board should ascertain 
the compensation he should be allowed to demand from each 
pupil, it was resolved that the sum should not exceed ten 
guineas. At present, the first legal talent in the country 
would command but a slender attendance upon a course of 
lectures, were a fee of this magnitude required. 

In little more than a month from the first meeting of the 
trustees, the various schools were again opened upon their 
former plan. But most of the obstacles which were opposed 
to the success of the university, were no less in the way of 
the college; and it soon became evident that the separate ex- 
istence of the two seminaries was incompatible with the 
prosperity of either. Their funds, managed with the ut- 
most attention to economy, were utterly insufficient for the 
maintenance of two distinct sets of teachers and professors; 
and legislative assistance could not be demanded with pro- 
priety, as neither school could urge an exclusive claim to 
public bounty, and to endow both, would be to bestow trea- 
sure for the attainment of an inadequate object: for it was 
evident that the demands of the population would be abun- 
dantly satisfied by a single seminary of the highest order, 
which might be conducted at half the expense of the present 
establishments, and with at least equal efficiency. The same 
consideration which precluded the expectation of aid from 
the legislature, discouraged the trustees from resorting to 
that plan of soliciting private contributions, which had 
proved so useful to the college on former occasions, when no 
rival existed to divide the public benevolence and patronage 



60 HISTORY OF THE 

There seemed, therefore, no other means of averting the 
ruin, or at least of raising the character and extending the 
usefulness of the schools of Philadelphia than to effect a union 
of their interests and resources. Happily, feelings of hos- 
tility had not acquired such vigour as not to yield at length 
to considerations of public good. Overtures for a union, 
proceeding from the trustees of the university, w^ere received 
with unanimous approbation by those of the college; and as 
both were earnestly desirous of seeing the object accom- 
plished, little time was sacrificed in arranging the necessary 
preliminaries. A joint application was made to the legisla- 
ture for such alterations in the respective charters as might 
give the sanction of law to the proposed measure. The re- 
quisite act was obtained without difficulty; and on the 30th 
of September, 1791, the two corporations were by law united 
into one. 

The principal conditions of the union were, first, that the 
name of the institution should be the University of Penn- 
sylvania; secondly, that twenty-four individuals, chosen 
equally by the two boards from their own numbers, should, 
with the governor of the state constitute the new board, of 
which the governor should be ex officio president; and third- 
ly, that the " professors who might be deemed necessary to 
constitute the faculty in arts and in medicine " should as far 
as possible be taken equally from each institution. It was 
moreover provided, that vacancies among the trustees, with 
the exception of the governor, should be filled by their own 
choice; and that no professor or officer of the faculty should 
be removed without due and timely notice, and by a less 
number than two-thirds of the members present at any one 
meeting, thirteen being necessary to constitute a quorum for 
such a purpose. In compliance with the provisions of the 
law, each board proceeded to the performance of its last offi- 
cial act by the choice of twelve individuals as its representa- 



UMVERSlTY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 61 

tives in the government of the newly constituted university. 
The gentlemen thus appointed, together with Thomas Mifflin, 
the governor of the stale, met, for the first time, on the 18th 
of November, 1791; and, having regularly organized them- 
selves, proceeded without delay to restore to order the dis- 
jointed afiairs which had been committed to their charge.* 

One of their first measures was to unite the offices of se-^ 
cretary and treasurer in a single person, to whom they gave 
a compensation adequate to the trouble and responsibility of 
his station, exacting, at the same time, satisfactory security 
for the faithful discharge of the duties intrusted to him. As 
treasurer he was bound not only to receive and disburse mo- 
ney, and to perform such other services as are usually at- 
tached to this title; but also to exercise a general care and 
superintendence over the estates of the university, and, with 
the approbation of the trustees, to execute all those measures, 
of a financial character, which it had hitherto been the cus- 
tom to refer to the management of committees. It was 
thought that the attention of one individual of respectable 
character and standing, whose peculiar interests, moreover, 
were made to correspond with the duties of his office, would 
be more profitable to the institution, in the management of its 
pecuniary afiairs, than the gratuitous services of members of 
the board, whose public spirit could not be expected to with- 
stand, on all occasions, the calls of private business, or to 
bear, without a relaxation of efibrt, the irksomeness and fa- 

* The g-entlemen chosen by the trustees of the university were, Thomas 
M'Kean, Charles Pettit, James Sproat, Frederick Kuhl, John Bleakly, 
John Carson, Jonathan B. Smith, David Rittenhouse, Jonathan D. Sergeant, 
David Jackson, James Irvin, and Jared Ingersoll. Those selected by the 
trustees of the college were WUliam White, D. D., Robert BlackweU, D. D., 
Edward Shippen, William Lewis, Robert Hare, Samuel Powell, David H. 
Con3mgham, William Bingham, Thomas Fitzsimmons, George Clymer, Ed- 
ward Burd, and Samuel Miles. 



62 HISTORY OF THE 

tigue which are incident to trusts of such a nature. Nor 
were the calculations of the board disappointed. The pro- 
priety of the measure has been demonstrated both by the 
neatness and accuracy of the records, and by the careful 
management of the finances, since the period of its adoption.* 
In the succeeding chapters I shall present a very general 
view of the organization of the university; and, without en- 
tering into minute particulars, shall trace the current of its 
affairs down to the present time. 

* Edward Fox was the first secretary and treasurer of the university; and 
continued to retain the office till the period of his death. He was succeeded- 
by Joseph Reed, Esq., recorder of the city. 



yxiyERSixy of pennsvlvanu. ^3 



CHAPTER IX. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY, AFTER THE UNION OP 

THE SCHOOLS. 



To effect a satisfactory arrangement of the internal affairs 
of the institution was found by the trustees to be a task of 
some difficulty. It was evidently impossible, with the limited 
funds under their control, and with a proper regard to the 
best interests of the school, so to expand its establishment, as 
to embrace, in its various offices, all the professors and teach- 
ers who had been connected with the late college and uni- 
versity; and yet, a sense of the justice due to these gentle- 
men, as well as private feelings of friendship or regard en- 
tertained towards them by individual members of the board, 
demanded that as many of them should be included in the 
new scheme as might in any way be consistent with the 
great object, for the attainment of which they were to be 
employed. Between these opposing considerations, to hit 
upon the just medium, required the exercise of cautious re- 
flection, and a spirit of mutual condescension among the 
friends of those candidates whose conflicting claims were in 
the way of a proper settlement. At length, however, a plan 
for the seminary was prepared, which, though not without 
some opposition, was ultimately adopted. 

It was determined that, beside the charity schools, there 
should ))e three departments; those of the arts, of law, and of 



64 HISTORY OP THE 

medicine. In the department of arts, five separate schools 
were instituted, to be placed under the care of six professors, 
assisted by as many tutors as might from time to time be 
deemed necessary. The first school was to consist of two 
philosophical classes, to be taught respectively by two pro- 
fessors; the one of natural philosophy, the other of moral 
philosophy. The four remaining schools were each to have 
a distinct professor; the grammar school, a professor of La- 
tin and Greek; the mathematical school, a professor of mathe- 
matics; the English school, a professor of English and 
the belles-lettres; and the German school, a professor of 
the German and oriental languages. To fill the six pro- 
fessorships thus established, three individuals were to be 
chosen out of each of the former faculties, in compliance 
w^ith that provision of the act of union, by which the trus- 
tees were bound to select the officers of the university equal- 
ly from the two seminaries. 

According to the regulations above detailed, the following 
gentlemen were appointed to the chairs respectively con- 
nected with their names; — Dr. Ewing to the chair of natural 
philosophy; Dr. Andrews to that of moral philosophy; Mr. 
Davidson to that of Greek and Latin; Mr. Patterson to that 
of the mathematics; Mr. Rogers to that of English and the 
belles-lettres; and finally, Dr. Henry Helmuth, the succes- 
sor of Mr. Kunze in the late university, to that of the Ger- 
man and oriental languages.* At a subsequent election Dr. 
Ewing was chosen provost, and Dr. Andrews vice-provost. 

From the above statement, it appears, that only two of 
the late professors, Dr. Magaw of the university, and Dr. 
Smith of the college, were omitted in the new appoint- 

* The German school was maintamed but for a short time, being- eitlier 
inadequately supported, or not found productive of tliose advantag-es which 
>yere originally proposed. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 65 

ments. The former of these gentlemen, understanding that 
by becoming a candidate he might interfere with the inte- 
rests of his friend Dr. Andrews, generously declined a nomi- 
nation; the latter, though supported by a large number of 
the trustees, had, however, a majority opposed to him, and 
was now finally separated from an institution, with the in- 
fancy of which he had become associated in early life, whose 
youth he had strengthened and adorned in the vigour of 
his age, and whose untimely decay, now in his declining 
years, was another link in the chain of sympathy by which 
it had so long been connected with his fortunes. The age 
and infirmities of the late provost were probably thought to 
unfit him for the superintendence of a great seminary, in 
which vigour of authority must be conjoined with extensive 
knowledge and talents for instructing; and an inferior sta- 
tion could hardly have been ofiered with propriety, or ac- 
cepted without degradation. It is possible, however, that a 
little leaven of old political animosity may have lurked in 
the minds of those who opposed him, and mingling with the 
more obvious motives, have communicated to them a force 
and influence which they might not otherwise have possessed. 
Yet this feeling, if it existed at all, must have been feeble; 
for no asperity marked the ofiicial proceedings, and every 
disposition was displayed to do, in whatever regarded pecu- 
niary matters, all that justice could require. The doctor 
was allowed to retain, for one year, free from rent, the 
house which he had occupied as provost of the college; his 
claims upon the institution to the amount of nine hundred 
pounds were admitted and adjusted; and an annuity of one 
hundred pounds, formerly granted in consideration of his 
services in England, was now secured to him for life. The 
intimate connexion of the aff*airs of the old college, in ali 
its vicissitudes of good and bad fortune, with him who 
was its first and last provost, has necessarily brought be- 

9 



66 HISTORY OF THE 

fore our view many events in the life of that prominent 
individual; and circumstances peculiar to himself — his learn- 
ing, his talents, his public-spirited exertions, and the large 
space which he filled in the esteem and affection of a nume- 
rous and most respectable acquaintance — give these events a 
value in narration, which would, perhaps, have justified us 
in presenting them to the public in still more minute detail 
than we have deemed necessary merely for the illustration 
of this historical sketch. It may not be amiss to state, in 
taking a final leave of the venerable provost, that his life, 
already far advanced at the period of his separation from the 
institution, was protracted to the year 1803. 

In the department of law, the regulations which originated 
with the late college, were still maintained, and Mr. Wilson 
was continued in his professorship. But the place seems to 
have been nominal; for no salary was attached to it, and suf- 
ficient encouragement was not afibrded by students to com- 
pensate the trouble of a regular course of lectures. To the 
present time, instruction in law continues, on paper at least, 
to be a part of the scheme of the university. In the year 
1817, attention was called to the subject by the annunciation 
of a course from Charles W. Hare, at that time professor; 
and a respectable attendance was commanded by the high 
and well merited reputation of that accomplished lawyer. I 
am not aware, however, that the efibrt was continued be- 
yond one season; and it has not since been repeated. 

It has before been stated that a complete history of the 
medical school does not constitute a part of our present de- 
sign. I shall now, therefore, merely mention the names of 
the gentlemen who were chosen professors in this depart- 
ment. The new faculty was composed of William Shippen, 
professor of anatomy, surgery, and midwifery; Caspar Wis- 
tar, adjunct professor of the same branches; Adam Kuhn, 
professor of the practice of physic; Benjamin Rush, profes- 



UNIVERSITY or PENNSYLVANIA. 67 

sor of the institutes and clinical medicine; James Hutchin- 
son, professor of chemistry; Samuel Powell Griffitts, pro- 
fessor of materia medica; and Benjamin S. Barton, professor 
of natural history and botany. Of these gentlemen, the first 
six were chosen equally from the late college and universi- 
ty; the seventh, though nominally a member of the faculty, 
was not placed on the same footing with the others as, by a 
resolution of the board, an attendance upon his lectures was 
declared not to be an essential requisite for obtaining the 
medical honours. 



68 HISTORY OP THE 



CHAPTER X. 



ACCOUNT OF THE PROFESSORS OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

It will be most convenient, for the sake of avoiding con- 
fusion in the subsequent narrative of events, to pursue at 
once down to the present time the succession in the faculty 
of arts, without immediate reference to the particular situa- 
tion of the seminary at the period of each new appointment. 
As the mere name of an individual is a blank to those unac- 
quainted with his person, character, or history, a few con- 
densed biographical notices will be necessary, in order that 
correct conceptions may be formed of the condition and me- 
rits of the institution of which the subjects of the proposed 
notices were the conductors. 

The Rev. Dr. John Ewing, the first provost of the uni- 
versity, had risen by his own exertions from very humble 
beginnings. The son of a farmer of moderate circumstances 
in Maryland, and one of a numerous family, he had neither, 
when a boy, the advantages of a regular education, nor, in 
his manhood, the assistance of any influential relatives to 
push his fortunes in the world. Gifted, however, with a 
strong propensity to scientific pursuits, he improved the 
slender opportunities which were afforded him in his native 
place by industrious and eager application; and when old 
enough to enter upon an independent course of life, left his 
father's house, to seek elsewhere the means of instruction 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 69 

antl support. Both objects were secured by an engagement 
which he formed, in the double capacity of pupil and assist- 
ant, with Dr. Allison, who then taught a private school, with 
much reputation, in the province of Pennsylvania. Such 
was his diligence in his new station, and such the extent of 
his acquirements, that on application for admission to the 
college at Princeton, he was not only received in one of the 
higher classes, but was also employed as a tutor; and was 
thus enabled to continue his plan of improving himself, and 
of earning a livelihood by assisting in the improvement of 
others. Having obtained his degree, he devoted himself to 
the study of theology; and returning to Dr. Allison, now 
vice-provosfe of the college of Philadelphia, qualified himself, 
under his instruction, for admission into the ministry. His 
first connexion with the institution, over which he was ulti 
mately called to preside, took place soon after this period. 
The absence of Dr. Smith in Great Britain, on the business 
of the college, having occasioned a temporary vacancy in the 
faculty, Mr. Ewing, though then only twenty-six years old, 
was thought qualified to supply his place in the charge of 
the philosophical classes. Shortly afterwards, he entered 
into the pastoral office as minister of the first Presbyterian 
congregation of Philadelphia, to which he continued at- 
tached during the remainder of his life. It was in conse- 
quence of this station that he became one of the trustees of 
the university, founded by the legislature upon the ruins of 
the college; and his elevation to the office of provost, while 
it was due to his attainments in learning and science, was 
undoubtedly facilitated by his known attachment to the prin- 
ciples of the revolution, and to the independence of his coun- 
try. That he should have countenanced the injury done to 
his former friends, and even been willing to partake of their 
spoils, is only a proof that the best men, by the violence of 
party excitement, are apt to have their vision so perverted. 



70 HISTORY OP THE 

that an act of injustice, if it promote the great political ob- 
ject in view, assumes in their eyes the colour of necessity, if 
not of virtue. It has been seen, that on the union of the 
schools, his claims to the provostship were thought to over- 
balance the high qualifications and long services of Dr. Smith. 
He continued to preside over the university, and to perform 
the duties of professor of natural philosophy till 1802, when 
he died, at the age of seventy-one years. But for a short 
time before the close of his life, he was disabled by ill health 
from that steady and vigorous application to the business of 
his station which had characterized the early period of his 
employment, and by which alone he could compensate the 
university for that unfortunate division of his time and at- 
tention, which his adherence to the pastoral office rendered 
necessary. From the accounts which are left of Dr. Ewing, 
he appears to have been characterized rather by strong judg- 
ment and indefatigable application, than by great genius or 
brilliant imagination. As a mathematician he was thought 
not to have a superior in the Union. His classical attain- 
ments were highly respectable, and by a fondness for bibli- 
cal researches, he was led to devote much time to the study 
of the Hebrew language. While the extent of his acquire- 
ments commanded the respect of all, the mildness and good- 
ness of his character, and the excellence of his social quali- 
ties secured him the kindness and affection of his compa- 
nions. On a visit which he paid to Great Britain, before his 
elevation to the provostship, he was received with the high- 
est marks of favour in the literary circles of Edinburgh and 
London, where he acquired the friendship of several distin- 
guished men, particularly of the celebrated historian Dr. Ro- 
bertson, by whom he was remembered affectionately to the 
time of his death. It was on this visit that he received, 
without solicitation, the title of Doctor of Divinity, conferred 
upon him by the university of Edinburgh. The lectures on 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 71 

natural philosophy which he delivered to the classes under 
his care, were printed after his death, and, though at pre- 
sent out of date, attracted considerable attention at the time 
of their publication. 

The place left vacant by the death of Dr. Ewing, was not 
filled by a new appointment till the year 1806, when John 
McDowell, LL. D., of Annapolis in Maryland, was induced 
to resign his station as principal of St. John's College, in 
order to accept the professorship of natural philosophy in the 
University of Pennsylvania, which was ofiered him by a 
unanimous vote of the board of trustees. In the commence- 
ment of the following year he was elected provost: but the 
state of his health was found to be incompatible with the du- 
ties he had undertaken to perform; and in little more than 
three years after entering the institution, he retired into the 
country, and left to the trustees the embarrassment of ano- 
ther choice. He afterwards evinced his attachment to the 
school, by supplying a temporary vacancy occasioned by the 
resignation of his successor; and still later, by the bequest of 
his books, which now form a valuable part of the library 
belonging to the institution. 

At the period of Dr. M'Dowell's retirement. Dr. An- 
drews had been vice-provost for nearly twenty years; and 
his services both in the college and university, together with 
the respectability of his attainments and character, entitled 
him to what little addition of honour and emolument was to 
be derived from his elevation to the higher post. A native 
of Maryland, he was, at the age of seventeen, sent to receive 
his education in the college and academy at Philadelphia, 
where he graduated A. D. 1765, and was immediately em- 
ployed as a tutor in the German school; thus beginning his 
career in the lowest station of that institution, in the highe&t 
office of which it was destined to close. Having qualified 
himself for the ministry, and received regular ordination in. 



72 HISTORY or THE 

the Episcopal church from the bishop of London, he entered 
into the service of the celebrated English <* Society for pro- 
pagating the Gospel in foreign parts j" and, in the capacity 
of a missionary, preached at different places in the interior of 
Pennsylvania and Maryland. The revolution found him 
settled with a congregation in the latter of these provinces; 
but as his political sentiments were not exactly accordant 
with those of the great majority of his parishioners, his situ- 
ation soon became so uncomfortable as to induce him to re- 
move to Yorktown, where he maintained himself for many 
years by the profits of a flourishing school. In 1785, he ac- 
cepted an invitation to take charge of the Episcopal academy 
then just established in this city, which he continued to su- 
perintend till, upon the revival of the college and academy, 
he was induced to become a colleague of his former master, 
Dr. Smith, in the management of the philosophical school. 
I have already spoken of his long services in the university. 
In December I8I0, he was unanimously elected provost; but 
his health now began to give way, and he was compelled to 
withdraw from the institution, after having enjoyed his ele- 
vation little more than two years. Though not described as 
a man of splendid abilities. Dr. Andrews was highly es- 
teemed as a first rate classical scholar, and an excellent teach- 
er. The works he has left behind him are the living records 
of his diligence and skill — they are the numerous men of 
note in the various walks of professional life, the foundation 
of whose reputation was laid in the instruction they received 
from him in their youth. 

In reply to the letter in which Dr. Andrews, a few months 
before his death, announced his desire to resign his station 
in the university, the trustees expressed their high sense "of 
the unremitting industry and great ability with which he had 
successively filled the offices of provost and vice-provost;" 
and communicated their unanimous resolution that the salary 



TTNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 73 

which he had hitherto received should be continued to him 
during the remainder of his life. The Rev. Frederick Beas- 
ley, the present learned and respected provost, was chosen to 
succeed him in July, 1813. 

Having spoken of the successive principals of the univer- 
sity, it remains that I should briefly notice their several co- 
adjutors. It will be remembered that Robert Patterson was 
one of those who were selected from the faculty of the late 
university, with which he had been connected from its ori- 
gin, first in a subordinate capacity as a teacher in the mathe- 
matical school, and afterwards with the title and privileges 
of professor. Few teachers in this city have passed through 
a career at once so long, so uniformly correct, honourable, 
and prosperous, as that which prudence and fortune com- 
bined to mark out for this gentleman. Though an Irishman 
by birth, he came to this country before the revolution, and 
possessing therefore all the rights and feelings of a citizen, 
exhibited, throughout the course of his life, a warm attach- 
ment to our republican institutions, and a passionate interest 
in our national honour and greatness. Some previous expe- 
rience in the art of teaching, and a skill in the mathematics 
which was the natural result of diligent application, great 
mental accuracy, and clearness of intellect, fitted him well 
for the chair, which, without the extraneous influence of 
friends and relatives, they enabled him to attain. To the 
professorship of mathematics, after the death of Dr. McDow- 
ell, he united that of natural philosophy; and in the year 
1810 was made vice-provost, in the place of Dr. Andrews. 
Independently of his emoluments from the university, he for 
many years enjoyed a considerable salary as president of the 
mint. Thus comfortable in his circumstances, he was ena- 
bled, in the decline of life, to withdraw from the fatigues of 
his professorship, and to seek that repose which was now 

10 



74 HISTORY OF THE 

essential to his tranquillity. Testimonies of the public es- 
teem followed him into retirement. The degree of Doctor 
of Laws was conferred upon him by the institution which 
he had so long and diligently served; and in the presidency 
of the philosophical society, to which he was appointed on 
Ihe death of Dr. Wistar, he received the highest literary ho- 
nour in the gift of any association on this side of the Atlantic. 

At the time of his resignation, a favourite son had been 
chosen to supply his place till a regular appointment should 
be made. He lived not only to witness the confirmation of 
this son in the professorship, but to experience, from his ho- 
nourable exertions and well merited reputation, the purest 
gratification of which the parental heart is susceptible. To 
crown the felicity of his lot, he had united the Christian with 
the philosopher; and, at a good old age, went down to his 
grave, with the full assurance that he should rise again to^ a 
happier and more exalted existence. Dr. Robert M. Patterson, 
the present vice-provost and professor of natural philosophy, 
succeeded his father A. D. 1813. 

Of the professors who belonged to the college before its 
overthrow in 1779, Mr. Davidson alone had retained his 
station through all the subsequent changes. In the super- 
intendence of the academy of Newark in Delaware, he had 
exhibited such evidence of his familiarity with the learned 
languages, and of his abilities as a teacher, that on the death 
of Mr. Beveridge, he w^as thought qualified to supply the 
place of that accomplished scholar, and was invited towards 
the close of the year 1767, with offers too favourable to be 
resisted, to take charge of the Latin school. That his talents 
continued to be held in high estimation is evinced b}^ the 
fact, that in each successive change of the institution, care 
was taken to secure his services. The same fact speaks fa- 
vourably of the prudence and general moderation of his cha- 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 75 

racter, by which he was enabled to steer through the embar- 
rassments of a most agitated period, without either striking 
against the prejudices and passions which beset him on all 
sides, or suffering himself to be carried away by the violence 
of the currents which swept across his course. In the same 
tenour of usefulness and respectability his life ran evenly 
on, till at length the debility of old age overtook him, and 
rendered a retirement from active duties advisable on account 
of the university, and necessary for his own comfort. Upon 
the occasion of his resignation, the board of trustees, express- 
ing the <* high regard and respect" which they entertained 
for him, resolved that <*in consideration of his long and 
faithful services," he should be allowed an annuity of two 
hundred and fifty pounds per annum, and the use of the 
house which he then occupied, during the remainder of his 
lif(^. Mr. Davidson resigned in February, 1806; and in the 
month of May following, James G. Thompson, the present 
excellent professor of the Latin and Greek languages, was 
appointed in his place. 

The Rev. William Rogers, professor of English and the 
belles-lettres, was a clergyman of the Baptist church. He 
had served during the revolution as chaplain in the army, 
and afterwards had the charge of a congregation in this city. 
His office in the university, though nominally on a footing 
with the other professorships, was in fact regarded as less 
essentially connected with the interests of the seminary, and 
therefore commanded less both of influence and emolument. 
Of so little importance indeed was it considered, that, in a 
change of regulations which took place in the year 1810, the 
trustees resolved that it was expedient to suppress it: but, 
at the same time, unwilling to wound the feelings of Dr. 
Rogers, they determined that it should remain in its former 
condition till after the death or resignation of that gentleman. 



76 HISTORY OF THE 

The latter of these contingencies was soon realized. Unwil- 
ling that the institution, from a regard to his convenience, 
should continue to suffer an unnecessary burden, he with- 
drew from it altogether, and left the board at liberty to make 
whatever arrangements they might deem most salutary. Dr. 
Rogers, after surviving all his former colleagues, died recent- 
ly at an advanced age. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 77 



CHAPTER XL 



REMOVAL OF THE SCHOOL.— NEW UNIVERSITY EDIFICE IN 

NINTH STREET. 



Having given a brief account of the gentlemen who com- 
posed the faculty of arts, as it was constituted immediately 
after the union of the schools, and of their successors to the 
present time, we may now recur to what belongs, perhaps, 
more strictly to the history of the institution — the considera- 
tion, namely, of those various changes in its external and in- 
ternal afiairs which circumstances and a more mature expe- 
rience have at different periods rendered necessary or advi- 
sable. 

The first interesting event after the arrangements of the 
schools had been completed, was their removal from the aca- 
demy in Fourth Street, to the more elegant and commo- 
dious building which they now occupy, and which was pur- 
chased by the trustees from the government of the state. As 
very erroneous impressions have been entertained by many 
of our citizens relative to the history of this edifice, we shall 
not perhaps be thought to transgress the limits proper to our 
subject, by relating briefly the circumstances which led to 
its erection, and those which afterwards occasioned its trans- 
fer. It is well known that in the year 1791, the Congress 
of the United States assembled in Philadelphia, in pursu- 
ance of a resolution of the previous session, by which the seat 



78 HISTORY OP THE 

of government was transferred from New York to this place. 
It comported as well with the dignity as with the interest of 
Pennsylvania, that her metropolis, which had thus become, 
for a time, the political centre of the Union, should be ren- 
dered in every way an acceptable residence to those who 
represented the national authority. Provision was accord- 
ingly made, at the public expense, for the suitable accommo- 
dation of the two houses of Congress; and by an act of the 
legislature, passed on the 30th of September, lYQl, a large 
sum of money was appropriated for the building of a mansion 
to serve as a residence for the president of the United States, 
so long as Philadelphia should continue to be the seat of the 
national councils. In pursuance of this act, a lot was pur- 
chased, situated on the west side of Ninth Street, and ex- 
tending from Market to Chesnut Streets, on which a build- 
ing was commenced, appropriate, in extent of plan and so- 
lidity of structure, to the purpose for which it was designed. 
At various periods of its progress, further appropriations 
became necessary; and by the time of its completion, in the 
spring of 1797, its cost had amounted to little short of one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

Among the motives which originally led to its erection, 
there can be no doubt that affectionate gratitude to the great 
man who then filled the presidency, was mingled with con- 
siderations of general policy; but nothing of this kind was 
expressed in the letter of the act, the provisions of which 
had reference solely to the office of chief magistrate, not to 
the person of any particular individual. It was probably 
from a knowledge of the feelings which actuated the legisla- 
ture, that the opinion became and has continued very preva- 
lent in this city, that the building was not only expressly de- 
signed for the use of Washington, but was even offered to his 
acceptance, and declined from a sense of the propriety of 
maintaining, in the exercise of his high duties, an indcpend- 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 79 

ence, free alike from the reality and the suspicion of bias. 
The fact, however, is, that it was not completed till after his 
retirement from public office, and therefore could not have 
been applied to his accommodation in his character of presi- 
dent. It was Mr. Adams to whom the offer was made, and 
by whom it was declined. Towards this gentleman, how- 
ever, the warmth of attachment was neither so intense nor so 
widely diffused; and conditions were annexed to the offer, 
certainly not contemplated in the original intentions of the 
legislature, and hardly compatible, as it appears to me, with 
the honour and dignity of the commonwealth. The grounds 
upon which Mr. Adams felt himself bound to decline the fa- 
vour, w^ere the obligations of that article of the constitution 
which forbids the receipt by the president either from an in- 
dividual state, or from the United States, of any other emolu- 
ment than the yearly salary attached to his office.* 

* The following is an extract from a note, dated March 3d, 1797, addressed 
by Governor Mifflin to the president elect. " In the year 1791, the legisla- 
ture of Pennsylvania directed a house to be built for the accommodation of 
the president of the United States, and empowered the governor to lease the 
premises. As the building will be completed in the course of a few weeks, per- 
mit me to tender it for your accommodation, and to inform you, that, although 
I regret the necessity of making any stipulation on the subject, I shall consi- 
der the rent for which you might obtain any other suitable house in Phila- 
delphia, (and which you will be pleased to mention,) as a sufficient compen- 
sation for the use of the one now offered.'* The reply of Mr. Adams was 
promptly conveyed. "The respect to the United States," says he in a note 
of the same date with the above, "intended by the legislature of Pennsyl- 
vania in building a house for the president, will, no doubt, be acknowledged 
by tlie Union as it ought to be. For your kind offer of it to me, in conse- 
quence of their authority, I pray you to accept my respectful thanks, and to 
present them to the legislature. But as I entertain great doubts, whether 
by a candid construction of the constitution of the United States, I am at 
liberty to accept it, without the intervention and authority of Congress, and 
there is not time for any application to them, I must pray you to apologize 
for me to the legislature for declining the offer." See Journal of the House 
©f Representatives of the Pennsylvania Legislature. 



80 HISTORY" OF THE 

As the purpose for which the house had been built was 
now frustrated, and no other use to which it could be profit- 
ably applied presented itself, it became necessary so to dis- 
pose of the premises as to reimburse, as far as possible, the 
expense incurred by the state in their purchase and improve- 
ment. By a law passed in March, 1800, they were directed 
to be sold at public auction; and in July of the same year 
they were purchased by the university, for the moderate 
sum of forty-one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, less 
than half their original cost. As the purchase money was 
to be paid by instalments, the trustees were enabled to meet 
the demands upon them by the disposal of stock, and the sale 
of a portion of the old college and adjoining premises. A 
part of this property in Fourth Street they were bound by 
the conditions of their title deeds to retain in their posses- 
sion, for the maintenance of a charity school, and the accom- 
modation of itinerant preachers.* By letting on ground- 
rent those unoccupied lots of their new purchase which fronted 
on Market and Chesnut streets, they provided a permanent 
income, which has very materially lightened the pressure of 
the first cost upon their resources. Some alterations in the 
building necessary to fit it for the purposes to which it was 
now destined, were made immediately after it came into their 
hands; and a very extensive edifice has since been added for 
the use of the medical professors. The schools were not 
finally transferred to it till the spring of 1802.t 

* A part of tlie old academy was sold to a society of methodists, foi; whom 
it long- served as a place of worship. This portion has recently been taken 
down and replaced by a new church. The northern half of the building- is 
still standing and in possession of the trustees. — January ^ 1834. 

f Since this account was written, the buildings alluded to have been taken 
down, and Iheir place supplied by others, more symmetrical in tlieir exter- 
nal appearance, and better adapted, in their internal an*angements, to the va- 
ried business of a great collegiate establishment. The new college hall was 



UNIVERSITY OF PEPTNSVLVANIA. 81 



CHAPTER XII. 



LANGUISHING CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS IN THE UNIVER- 
SITY. DEFECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS UPON WHICH THIS 

CONDITION DEPENDED. 

The inquiry may now be reasonably made, whether the 
success of the university was such as to justify those high and 
apparently well grounded expectations to which the union of 
the schools had given rise. For the honour of Philadelphia, 
it would be well could we truly answer this question in the 
affirmative; but the fact is too notorious to be denied, that, 
with the exception of the pecuniary affairs, which were soon 
brought into good order and comparative prosperity, there 
was reason for several years rather to regret a still further 
depression, than to boast of an advancement in the fortunes 
of the institution. Since the first establishment of the col- 
lege, there had scarcely been a period, unless during the se- 
verest commotions of the revolution, when the students in 
the higher branches were less numerous, or the reputation of 
the seminary at a lower ebb. In the philosophical school, 
consisting of the two highest classes, there were in the year 
1797 only twelve students; the numbers qualified to graduate 

opened for the reception of students in the autumn of 1830. During the 
progress of the building, the classes were accommodated in the old academy 
in Fourth Street. A representation of the former university edifice may be 
seen in the "Views in Philadelphia and its Vicinity," published in Phila- 
delphia in ISSr^by C. G. Childs.— /awMory, 1834. 

11 



82 HISTORY OF THE 

were in several instances so few, that it was deemed unne- 
cessary and impolitic to hold commencements; and when the 
practice of conferring degrees publicly was resumed, it not 
unfrequently happened, that only five or six individuals ap- 
peared as candidates for the honours. It is not to be sup- 
posed that this state of things was regarded with indifference 
by the trustees: on the contrary, committees of investigation 
were frequently appointed; the sources of the evil were dili- 
gently explored; as each mistake or deficiency was rendered 
sensible, efforts were made to correct or supply it; till at 
length the features of the institution were completely changed, 
and its whole system so remedied as to bring it into closer 
accordance with the character of the times, and to extend 
considerably its sphere of usefulness. 

The historian of nations deems it his duty not only to re- 
cord alternations of prosperity and misfortune, glory and dis- 
grace; but also to search out and explain the causes of these 
changes, that useful lessons may thus be afforded to states- 
men, and the good of the past augmented, and its evil dimi- 
nished, by the example and warning it is made to hold out 
to the future. The same principle should influence the hum- 
bler author, who confines his attention to small communities; 
for they, too, may have successors to be benefited by the 
picture of their vicissitudes. No excuse, therefore, is ne- 
cessary for attempting to expose the causes of the very low 
condition into which the university was depressed, at the 
close of the last, and commencement of the present cen- 
tury. 

Among these causes may, perhaps, be included the prac- 
tice of compensating the professors by fixed salaries, with- 
out allowing them any share in the proceeds of tuition. 
There is a vis inertias in mind as well as in matter, and the 
best men acknowledge that, to put forth their highest ener- 
gies, they require the incitement of powerful motives. An 



UNIVERSITY or PENNSYLVANIA. 83 

officer with a fixed salary, of which he neither fears the di- 
minution nor expects the increase, without any apprehen- 
sion, so long as he exhibits no gross negligence or miscon- 
duct, of losing his situation, and equally without the hope 
of higher advancement, will, if an honest man, perform 
punctually his prescribed routine of duties; but he will sel- 
dom be willing to sacrifice allowable gratifications, to devote 
to labour his hours of permitted leisure, to task, in fine, all 
his faculties to the utmost, w^ith no other reward in view than 
the welfare of those by whom he may be employed, or of 
the institution to which he may be attached. In great semi- 
naries, where so much depends upon the talents and energy 
of the teachers, the lukewarmness resulting from this want 
of strong personal interest, may be seriously felt in the lan- 
guor of their operations, and the consequent disrepute into 
which, if not strongly supported by local attachments, or 
the force of opinion, they will be apt to fall. With regard 
to the school of Philadelphia, it may, indeed, be said, that 
the regulation alluded to, had been introduced at its origin, 
and had been maintained during its greatest prosperity. But 
at that early period, there was comparatively little competi- 
tion to encounter; novelty itself afibrded no moderate sti- 
mulus to exertion; and in the instability and immaturity of 
the infant establishment, there was, in fact, a strong induce- 
ment held out to the professors to spare no efforts which 
might tend to fix it on a more elevated and firmer basis, and 
thus render their own situation more honourable and secure. 
That afterwards, when age had given it stability, and its con- 
tinued existence was secured by its own internal strength, 
the system of compensation by fixed salaries became highly 
injurious to its interests, cannot be reasonably doubted. The 
fact, indeed, was so obvious, that it at length attracted the 
notice and interference of the trustees, who in the spring of 
1800, came to a resolution, that the professors, in addition to 



84 HISTORY OP THE 

their regular salaries, which at that time varied from two hun- 
dred and fifty to three hundred and fifty pounds per annum, 
should be entitled to the tuition money of their respective 
schools, thus giving them a motive for exertion which could 
not but be productive of favourable results. 

These results, however, were not immediate. There 
were yet some radical errors, the injurious influence of 
which, so long as they were allowed to remain, no industry 
nor talent in the teachers could wholly counteract. But by 
their late resolve the trustees had brought a principle into 
action, which never rests till all its purposes are accom- 
plished. The interests of the professors having become 
identical with those of the seminary, there now existed, in 
the faculty of arts, a body of men watchful over its con- 
cerns, quick-sighted in detecting all the weak parts of its 
structure, sagacious in discovering remedies for present evils 
and sources of new vigour, and eager to bring their views 
into practical application. The board of trustees, which, 
though composed of some of the wisest and best men in the 
community, is naturally slow in the formation of opinions, 
and still slower in its decisions, was quickened by this spirit 
of its own creation into clearer views and more energetic 
action. The subsequent changes may therefore be said to 
have grown out of that first regulation, which, planted in 
the principles of our nature, could not but spring up into vi- 
gorous and fruitful increase. 

The system of the seminary was fundamentally wrong. 
In the first place, the professors had no sufficient bond of 
union by which, in the business of instruction, their efforts 
might harmonize, and their strength operate to the greatest 
advantage by being exerted in one direction. With the ex- 
ception of the professors of moral and natural philosophy, 
who divided the philosophical classes between them, each 
had his distinct school, which he managed at his own discre- 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 85 

tion, and the pupils of which had no other connexion with 
the university than such as arose from the office held by their 
teacher. With such an organization, the pursuit of any sys- 
tematic course of instruction, if possible at all, must have 
been liable to continual interruptions, alike injurious to the 
scholar, and derogatory to the credit of the school. 

Another evil existed in the want of proper classification 
among the students. The distinction between the collegiate 
and academical parts of the institution, which had never been 
sufficiently marked, was now scarcely perceptible. Almost 
every branch of knowledge considered essential in a course 
of education, from the lowest to the highest, was included in 
its scheme; and if we except the two philosophical classes, 
the students of every grade were mingled together, not only 
under the same roof, but in the same apartment, and under 
the same teachers; so that the boy learning the simplest rules 
of arithmetic, or the first lesson in grammar, was iieighbour 
to the young man engaged in the highest mathematical and 
classical studies. In this absence of discrimination, an im- 
politic disregard was exhibited to that strongest feeling of 
the youthful breast, the desire of distinction; which gives to 
the priority of a few years in age, or a slight superiority of 
attainment, a degree of importance, the influence of which 
we are apt, in manhood, to forget or undervalue. To be as- 
sociated as pupils in the same establishment, even to be seen 
coming out of the same door with children but just out of 
their petticoats, was to the elder students, who began to look 
upon themselves as young men, a highly disagreeable ne- 
cessity; but to be mingled in the close fellowship of a school- 
room, was a degradation to which only the force of parental 
authority could induce them to submit. All whose own in- 
clinations were consulted, were naturally induced to prefer 
some other seminary, where their claims to a proper con- 
sideration would be respected; and numbers were thus di- 



86 HISTORY OF THE 

reeled away from the school of Philadelphia, whom the ad- 
vantages of proximity, united with their local attachments, 
would otherwise have connected witli it. 

Another circumstance contributed to the same result. It 
is the custom in most colleges for the students to pursue 
their studies in private, and to be collected together in the 
presence of the professors for a short time only each day, 
for the recital of the prescribed lessons, or to attend the lec- 
tures which are usually given. But, by the regulations of 
the university, it was required that the scholars of the higher 
as well as lower classes should be detained for several hours, 
both in the morning and afternoon, within the walls of the 
seminary, where they were compelled to attend to their seve- 
ral subjects of study under the immediate eye of their teachers, 
being considered as too young or too giddy to be trusted to 
their own private exertions, and as needing some other in- 
centive to exertion, than the desire of applause, fear of 
shame, or sense of duty. 

From these causes it happened that the alumni of the uni- 
versity were not only few, but often of an age better adapted 
to the commencement than to the completion of a course of 
the higher studies; and the institution came to be regarded 
as a seminary of inferior grade, which, however well it 
might have been adapted to those circumstances of a young 
community in accordance with which it was originally esta- 
blished, had not kept pace with the general march of im- 
provement, and was now behind many others of which it 
had formerly enjoyed the undoubted precedence. 



ITNTIVRRSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 87 



CHAPTER XIII. 



NEW REGULATIONS.— INSTITUTION OF THE PHILOMATHEAN 
SOCIETY.— IMPROVED STATE OF THE SCHOOL— ESTA- 
BLISHMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 



In the year 1810 a reformation was commenced by a com- 
plete separation of the seminary into two parts, the bounda- 
ries of which were distinctly marked, and their objects ac- 
curately defined. The students of the college, arranged into 
three classes — the freshman, junior, and senior — were placed 
under a faculty composed of three professors, who filled re- 
spectively the chairs of moral philosophy, of natural philoso- 
phy and the mathematics, and of the languages. Of these 
professors one v/as the provost, and the second the vice-pro- 
yost of the university. The term of study was confined to 
three years; and the course of instruction embraced, together 
with the Latin and Greek classics, all those higher branches 
of learning and science which are usually taught in colleges. 
By a special determination of the board it was provided, that 
whenever punishments might be necessary, they should be 
directed exclusively to *' a sense of duty, and the principle 
of honour and shame.'^ From this it would appear, that the 
students might previously have been subjected to occasional 
bodily chastisement — a degradation to which high-minded 
young men could not be expected to submit; and the liabili- 
ty to which, if it really did exist, must have had a great ef- 



88 HISTORY OP THE 

feet in lowering the general standard of character and at- 
tainment in the school, and bringing down its reputation to 
that inferior level upon which it stood for many years. 

The resignation of Dr. Rogers gave the trustees an oppor- 
tunity of abolishing the professorship of English and the 
belles-letters; and the English school, which, from the foun- 
dation of the institution had constituted a part of it, was 
shortly afterwards dissolved. Under the name of the aca- 
demy, a grammar school was retained, in which were taught 
the various inferior branches of learning, necessary as a pre- 
paration for entering upon a collegiate course. Over this 
school was placed one or more teachers, without the title of 
professor, without any authority in the general management 
of the institution, and subject to the superintendence and 
control of the collegiate faculty. The charity schools, which 
constituted a third division of the department of arts, were 
also placed under the care of the faculty; so that the college, 
while in itself independent, was enabled to exercise over the 
inferior branches a degree of authority, sufficient to preserve 
them in accordance with its own interests, and to give the 
character of a regular system to all the operations of the se- 
minary. 

Such were the first steps in the path of improvement. 
Further advances were gradually made, as the way became 
clearer, and experience began to demonstrate the safety if 
not expediency of the course pursued. To raise the cha- 
racter of the college, higher qualifications for admittance 
were made requisite ; and among these qualifications, a suitable 
age was considered essential. Formerly, boys had not unfre- 
quently been permitted to pass through and receive the ho- 
nours of the institution, whose immaturity of years was, of 
itself, a sufficient evidence of their unfitness for these honours; 
and men who beheld these unfledged alumniy could not but 
doubt the judgment and prudence of that alma maler, who 



UNIVERSITV of PENNSYLVANIA. 89 

had sent them forth from her bosom while yet so incompe- 
tent to their own intellectual management. It was resolved 
that no applicant should be received into the lowest class un- 
der the age of fourteen; a time of life at which it was thought 
that the sense of honour might be sufficiently developed to 
serve as a motive for strenuous application, and the intellect 
sufficiently mature to render such application productive. 

With the view of exciting emulation among the students, 
greater care was taken to apportion the several grades of ho- 
norary distinction at the commencements to the merits of the 
candidates; while, in the mean time, they were taught to feel 
more strongly the influence of public sentiment, and to al- 
low it more authority over their conduct, by occasional ex- 
hibitions of their skill in oratory before respectable assem- 
blages of citizens. 

They were, moreover, encouraged to form among them- 
selves an association, similar to those which exist in many 
other colleges in this country, and the influence of which has 
been found highly beneficial, both to the young men who be- 
long to them, and to the seminaries under the auspices of 
which they have been established. In these societies, the 
charm of secrecy has been employed to attract new mem- 
bers, and to maintain a stronger interest among the old; while 
it is deprived of all mischievous tendency by the participa- 
tion of the professors and other officers of the college. To 
be able fully to appreciate the importance of such institutions, 
we must revert to the period of our own youth, and call to 
mind the deep interest, the spirit at once of union and emu- 
lation, the kindly feelings towards each other united with 
the energetic determination to excel, inspired into us by their 
manlike exercises; and while dwelling on these recollections, 
we shall experience in the love with which our hearts warm 
and expand towards the scene of our young efforts, and the 
vivid desire which arises to witness and contribute to its 

12 



90 HISTORY OF THE 

prosperity, a sure evidence of the lasting benefit which must 
flow to the seats of learning, from multiplying such sources of 
pleasant and affectionate association. The Philomathean Soci- 
ety of the University of Pennsylvania was founded in the year 
1813, and still exists. The attention of the public is annually 
called to it by an address, commemorative of its origin, deli- 
vered by some one of its older members, appointed for the 
purpose.* 

Notwithstanding all these changes, there yet remained, 
in the plan and arrangement of the seminary, some errors 
which it was important to rectify. The period of three years, 
to which the college term was restricted, was insufficient for 
the completion, without extraordinary talent and industry, 
of the prescribed course of studies; and the proper qualifica- 
tions for a degree could not therefore be so rigidly insisted 
on, as if a due portion of time had been allotted. Nor was 
the number of professors proportionate to the task of instruc- 
tion, embracing as it did almost the whole circle of the sciences. 
Some branches were necessarily omitted or imperfectly 
taught; and thus, to the want of time, was added another 
cause for insufficient preparation on the part of the student. 
It naturally followed from these circumstances, that the re- 
quisites of graduation were considered lower, and consequent- 
ly the honour of a degree less, in the university, than in most 
of the prominent colleges of the United States; and, as the 
regulation requiring a long attendance of the students upon 
the professors remained unaltered, and the grammar school, 
though entirely separate in its government and conduct from 
the college, was still maintained in the same building, and 
therefore frequently confounded with the higher department, 
the institution was not yet able to rise entirely out of that 

* Another society of a simllai" character, has since been instituted among 
the students of the university, under the name of the Zelosophic Society. — 
January y 1834. 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 91 

reputation of inferiority, which had been attached to it from 
the period of the revolution. 

The trustees, however, becoming sensible of these disad- 
vantages, have recently made alterations, which, so far as re- 
gards the organization of the department of arts, leave little 
further to be desired. The grammar school has been re- 
moved from the building in Ninth Street, and located in the 
old academy; so that the collegians no longer incur the risk 
of being confounded with the inferior pupils, and are allowed 
to enjoy unalloyed the natural and salutary sense of importance 
belonging to their station. That other unsatisfactory regula- 
tion relative to the time of their attendance has also been al- 
tered; and in this respect they are now placed on a footing with 
the students of the highest and most respectable seminaries. 
The term of study has been extended to four years; another 
class has been added to the three previously existing; and the 
faculty has been augmented by the appointment of a tutor, 
and the institution of a fourth professorship. 

Time has not been allowed, since the adoption of these re- 
gulations, for the full development of those good effects 
which may reasonably be expected from them ; but the re- 
sult of the changes which were made at an earlier period 
has been highly favourable. Since the year 1810, the uni- 
versity has certainly taken a higher standing than it had pre- 
viously enjoyed. Its operations have been conducted with 
greater regularity; the courses of instruction have been more 
complete and efficient; and the annual number of graduates, 
varying from seven to thirty-four, has exhibited an increase 
of reputation and popularity, which though by no means 
equal to the wishes of its friends, or to its just claims, gives 
us a cheering assurance that the later improvements, which 
are but just beginning to be carried into effect, will not be 
fruitless in the end. 

In the same spirit which originated the measures above 



92 HISTORY OF THE 

detailed, the board of trustees, in the year 1816, determined 
to institute a new department in the university, to be devoted 
more especially to the advancement of those branches of 
science which could not be advantageously brought within 
the scheme of the seminary as it then existed. It was evi- 
dently impossible, during the regular collegiate course, to 
acquire an intimate and thorough acquaintance with all the 
diversified subjects of human knowledge. All that could be 
aimed at with discretion, was the communication to the 
young student of such varied elementary instruction, as 
might enable him, in his subsequent career, to pursue bene- 
ficially any particular subject of study to which his interest 
or his genius might incline him. But there are many 
branches of science both ornamental and useful, which, even 
with the aid afibrded by this elementary instruction, are still 
attended with so many difficulties, that the learner is apt to 
be discouraged at the threshold, and to turn away his steps 
towards some object of more easy attainment, but less ho- 
nourable in the pursuit, and less advantageous in possession. 
These difficulties, consisting often in the want of practical 
and experimental illustrations of the facts and deductions of 
science, may be removed or greatly diminished by courses 
of lectures, delivered by well qualified professors, with the 
assistance of extensive cabinets of specimens, and a suitable 
apparatus. This remark is particularly applicable to those 
branches of knowledge which are designated by the general 
title of natural science. As the means requisite for the pro- 
per illustration of these subjects are often beyond the re- 
sources of individuals, it was thought by the board, that by 
constituting a faculty of professors, and affording them such fa- 
cilities in the prosecution of their several courses of instruction 
as might be within the power of the university, they would 
be contributing towards the public good, and at the same 
time elevating the character of the institution over which 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 93 

they presided. A department of natural science was accord- 
ingly created, embracing five professorships, which were im- 
mediately filled by the choice of men recommended either 
by their general talent, or by their peculiar fitness for the 
ofiices to which they were appointed. The duty of the 
professors was to give annual courses of lectures to the public, 
for which their remuneration was to consist in the fees of the 
attendants; and the advantages which they derived from the 
university, beside the honour of the connexion, were the 
gratuitous use of suitable apartments, and access to the ap- 
paratus belonging to the institution. Though the rule de- 
manding annual courses has not been exactly complied with 
by all the gentlemen who have accepted professorships in 
this department, yet on the more important and popular sub- 
jects lectures have been regularly given, in some instances, 
to numerous classes; and the general result, if not so favour- 
able as might have been anticipated, has been such as fully 
to justify the original adoption of the measure, and to give 
rise to the hope that much good may flow from it hereafter. 



94 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XIV. 



STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE YEAR 1827. 

In order to complete the view which it is the object of this 
essay to lay before the public, it will be necessary to give an 
account of the arrangement and condition of the several de- 
partments of the university, as they exist at the present 
time.* If in the execution of this task, some facts which are 
already familiar should be again brought into notice, it is hoped 
that the advantages to be derived from the integrity of the 
picture, will overbalance the irksomeness of the repetition. 

The institution is under the control of a board of trustees, 
composed of twenty -four citizens of Pennsylvania, together 
with the governor of the state, who is ex officio president. 
This board is perpetual; and, in the exercise of its authority, 
is subject to no other limitations than such as are fixed by 
the several charters under which it acts. For the transac- 
tion of business a stated meeting is held every month, and 
special meetings are occasionally called when any important 
matter demands immediate attention; but, as in the manage- 
ment of so extensive an establishment, there are many ob- 
jects which require a constant and vigilant superintendence, 

* It will be recollected by the reader, tliat the period here alluded to was 
the year 1827, wlien this account of the university was prepared. In any 
instance in wliich material alterations have been made since that period, the 
fact will be stated in a note, with the present date. — January, 1834. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 95 

the board divides itself into standing committees, to each of 
which some particular province is ascribed for its especial 
charge. The duties of secretary and treasurer are performed 
by an officer appointed by the board, who is compensated by 
a regular salary and a small commission upon the revenues 
of the institution.* 

The university is nominally divided into five distinct de- 
partments, those, namely, of the arts and sciences, of na- 

* The names of all those who filled the office of trustee, from the ori^n 
of the school to the period at which the college and university were united, 
have been mentioned in previous notes. Those elected since that period, 
whose places have been vacated by death or resignation, are the follow- 
ing:— 

Alexander James Dallas, Joseph B. M'Kean, Joseph Ball, Samuel M. 
Fox, Thomas M. WUling, Moses Levy, John T. Mifflin, John H. Brinton, 
John R. Coxe, Anthony Morris, Thomas M. Francis, WiUiam TUghman late 
chief justice of Pennsylvania, Rev. James P. Wilson, George Fox, Zaccheus 
Collins, Thomas Duncan, Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, Robert Walsh jr.. Rev. 
Thomas H. Skinner, and Rev. Thomas M'Auley. 

The following gentlemen, exclusive of the governor of the state, com 
pose the board, at the date of this note: — 

1. Right Rev. WiUiam White, D. D., 13. Charles Chauncey, L L. D., 

2. William Rawle, L L. D., 14. Joseph Hopkinson, L L. D., 

3. Benjamin R. Morgan, 15. Joseph R. Ingersoll, 

4. James Gibson, 16. Rev. Philip F. Mayer, D. D., 

5. Horace Binney, L L. D.^ 17. Philip H. Nicklin, 

6 . William Meredith, 18. Rt. Rev. H. U. Onderdonk, D . D., 

7. Benjamin Chew, 19. John C. Lowber, 

8. Robert Wahi, 20. James S. Smith, 

9. John Sergeant, L L. D., 21. Edwai'd S. Burd, 

10. Thomas Cadwalader, 22. John Keating, 

11. Peter S. Duponceau, L L. D., 23. George Vaux, 

12. Nicholas Biddle. 24. Rev. William H. De Lancey,D.D, 

The reader acquainted with the general history of the Union, and the par- 
ticular history of this state, will have observed, that, at eveiy period of the 
existence of the school, the board of trustees has been remarkable for the 
number of its members distinguished in politics, hteralure, science, and the 
hberal professions; and a glance at the list of its present members will satisfy 



96 HISTORY OP THE 

TURAL SCIENCE, of GENERAL LITERATURE, of LAW, and of 
MEDICINE. 

1. Department of the Arts and Sciences. — This de- 
partment consists of three parts, the college^ the academy 
or grammar schools, and the charity schools. 

The college is under the immediate government of a fa- 
culty, composed of four professors and a tutor, to whom, be- 
side the business of instruction, are committed the duties of 
administering the general discipline of the seminary, and of 
representing to the trustees, in semi-annual reports, the exact 
condition both of the collegiate and academical classes.* 

him that it has not degenerated. We may, indeed, be proud as Philadelphian^ 
that our city has been able to afford so many distinguished names as ai'e to 
be found in the catalogue of those who have at different times directed the 
affairs of the college and university. The office of treasurer and secretar}' 
is now occupied by James C. Biddle, who succeeded Joseph Reed, late re- 
corder of the city. — January y 1834. 

* Some alterations have been made in the aiTangement of the faculty of arts 
since the year 1827. The four professorships rem^n as before; but an as- 
sistant professorship has been added. The office of tutor, referred to in the 
text, was also made an assistant professorship, which has, however, been re- 
cently abohshed. In 1827, when this memoir was written, the members of the 
faculty were Rev. Frederick Beasley, D. D., provost and professor of natural 
philosophy; Robert M. Patterson, M. D., vice-provost and professor of natural 
philosophy; James G. Thompson, professor of languages; and Garret Van 
Gelder, tutor. The professorship of mathematics, which was then vacant, 
was soon afterwards supphed by the election of Robert Adrain, L L. D. 
It is well known that, since the period above mentioned, great changes have 
taken place in the faculty, so that not one of those who then occupied chairs 
is now connected witli the institution. The faculty of arts at present consists 
of the following members: — 

Rev. WiUiam H. De Lancey, D. D., acting Professor of Moral Plulosophy, 
and acting Provost of the University; 

Robert Adrain, L L. D., Professor of Mathematics and Vice-provost of the 
University; 

Rev. Samuel B. Wylie, D.D., Professor of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin 
Languages; 

Alexander Dallas Bache, Professor of Naturd Philosophy and Chemistry; 

Heniy Reed, Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy. 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 97 

The offices of provost and vice-provost of the university are 
held respectively by two of these professors. It is the duty 
of the provost, and in his absence of the vice-provost, ** to 
visit and superintend the various schools and departments; 
to see that the rules and statutes of the trustees are duly car- 
ried into effect; and to advise and suggest such alterations 
and improvements as he may deem best calculated to pro- 
mote the welfare and usefulness of the institution.'' 

The compensation of the professors, if not ample, is at least 
respectable. Beside a fixed salary, which to the provost is 
one thousand dollars, to the vice-provost nine hundred, and 
to each of the other professors about eight hundred and fifty, 
they severally have the use of one of the houses belonging 
to the university, or an equivalent sum in money, and divide 
equally between them the proceeds of tuition. They are 
moreover entitled to a small sum from every graduate in the 
arts; and the provost and vice-provost derive a considerable 
addition to their income from the fees which they receive 
upon affixing their signatures to the medical diplomas.* 

The number of classes is four, distinguished by the usual 
titles of freshman^ sophomore, junior, and senior. One 
year is appropriated to each class; so that the whole college 

Witli the exception of Mr. Reed, these gentlemen immediately succeeded 
those above mentioned, as filling* the same offices. The predecessor of Mr. 
Reed, and the first assistant professor of moral philosophy was the late Rev. 
Edward Rutledg-e. Thomas M'Kinley and the Rev. Christian F. Cruse, suc- 
cessively after M. Van Gelder, held the place of tutor or assistant professor, 
now abolished. 

Dr. De Lancey has resigned his station in the university, but continues to 
occupy it temporarily, till a successor can be provided. The Rev. Philip 
Lindsley, D. D., has been elected, but has not yet signified liis acceptance 
of the office. — January , 1834. 

* The mode of compensating the professors has undergone some altera- 
tion since this was written. They now receive a fixed salary without any 
share of the tuition money. — January ^ 1834. 

13 



98 '"'" HISTORY OF THE 

term extends to four years. The requisites for admission 
into the lowest or freshman class are, that the applicant 
should not be under the age of fourteen; that he should 
have been taught arithmetic, and the rudiments of geography; 
and that he should have read, in the Latin language, Virgil, 
Sallust, and the Odes of Horace; in the Greek, the New- 
Testament, Lucian's Dialogues, Xenophon's Cyropsedia, and 
the Grseca Minora of Dalzel. The course of study embraces 
the highest Greek and Latin classics, with Grecian and Ro- 
man antiquities; the mathematics from algebra to fluxions; 
natural philosophy, chemistry, and geography in all its 
branches; ancient and modern history, grammar, rhetoric, 
logic, moral philosophy, and metaphysics. The students 
are also exercised in writing Greek and Latin, in English 
composition, and in the art of speaking.* 

• Since the year 1827, considerable changes have been made in the course 
of instruction, which is believed at present to be as comprehensive as that 
pursued in any similar institution in the United States. The following- regu- 
lations are extracted from the Catalogue of the University, published by 
order of the trustees in January, 1834. 

" To be admitted into the Freshman Class, a student must be at least four- 
teen years of age. He must be qualified for examination on the following 
subjects and authors: — Latin. Caesar, Virgil, Sallust, Odes of Horace. — 
Greek. New Testament, the Four Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles of Peter. 
Xenophon, first three books. Gracca Minora, or Jacob's Greek Reader. — 
Quantity and scanning in each language. — English. The elements of Eng- 
lish grammar and of modern geography. — Arithmetic, including fractions and 
the extraction of roots. 

" No student is admitted to advanced standing without the fullest prepa- 
ration for the class into which he applies for admission. 

"COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE COLLEGE. 

"Fkeshman Class. — Mathematics. Algebra, including simple and quad- 
ratic equations, surds, cubic, and biquadratic equations. • Approximations, 
Converging series, &c. — Classics. Five books of Livy. Horace's Satires. 
The Epistle to the Hebrews. Selections from Herodotus. Latin and Greek 
exercises. Roman and Grecian Antiquities. — English. English Gi-ammar, 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 99 

The pupils of each class are submitted to semi-annual ex- 
aminations in the presence of a committee of the trustees; 
and those who do not acquit themselves satisfactorily, are 
not allowed to proceed. 

(Lowth's Eng-lish Grammar) and Geography reviewed. Ancient History, 
{Lardner's Outlines of History. ) Readings in Prose and Poetry. Written 
Translations from ancient authoi-s. Declamation. 

** Sophomore Class. — Mathematics. Elements of Geometry, (Leg-endre's 
Geometry.) Logarithms. Plane Trigonometry. Surveying, Mensuration, 
&c. — Classics. Cfcero de Oratore> Terence, Cicero's Orations. Horace's 
Epistles. Selections from Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Lysias, Iso- 
crates, Plato and JElian, Homer's Iliad, Latin and Greek exercises. — Nai. 
Philosophy. Elenients of Mechanics, (Librarj"^ of Useful Knowledge, or 
Lardner's Mechanics and Hydrostatics.) — English. History, (Mackintosh's 
History of England.) Rhetoric, (Whately's Rhetoric.) English composi- 
tion. Declamation. 

^* Junior Class. — ^Jfa^Aemaiftcs, Spherical Geometi^' and Trigonometry, 
Perspective Geography, including the Use of the Globes and Construction 
t>f Maps and Charts. Analytical Geometry, including conic sections, 
(Young's Analytical Geometry. ) Elements of the Differential Calculus, with 
applications, (Young's Differential Calculus.) — Classics. Art of Poetry. Ju- 
venal, Quintiliati's Institute. Review of Selected Odes of Horace. Cicero 
de OfRciis. Selections from the Odyssey, Hesiod, Apollonius Rhodius, So- 
phocles, Euripides, Theocritus, Pindar, &c. — Nat. Philosophy and Chemis- 
try. General dortrines of equilibrium and motion. Equilibrium and mo- 
tion of solids and fluids, (Cambridge Mechanics.) Theory and Construc- 
tion of Machines, (Application of Descriptive Geometry.) — Heat, (Turner's 
Chemistry.) Electricity, including Calvinism. Magnetism. Electro-mag- 
netism, (Roget in Library of Useful Knowledge.) Philosophy of Chemis^, 
Inorganic Chemistry commenced. (Turner's Chemistry. ) — English. Histo- 
ry continued. Moral Philosophy. Logic, (Whately's Logic.) E^nglish 
•compositions. Written discussions, 

" Sekior Class. — Mathematics. Elements of the Integral Calculus, with 
applications. Variations of Lagrange. Analytical Mechanics, (Young's 
Analytical Mechanics, and Lectures.) —C?as5tcs. Former authors reviewed 
©r completed. Longinus. Tacitus. — Nat. Philosophy and Chemistry. As- 
tronomy, (Gummere's Astronomy,) Optics, (Brewster's Optics.) Steam- 
-cngine, (Lardner on the Steam-engine and lectures.) Inorganic Chemistry 
completed. Organic Chemistiy, (Turner's Chemistry. )—J5Jw^/wA. Evidencci 



100 HISTORY OP THE 

Punishments are confined to private or public admonition 
or reproof, degradation, suspension, dismission, and expul- 
sion. All but the two last may be inflicted by order of a 
majority of the faculty: — these, as they are the most serious, 
and are liable to afiect injuriously the character and future 
prospects of the young man, require the sanction of the 
board. Between the punishments of dismission and expul- 
sion there is this difference, that after the former a student 
may be reinstated by a vote of the trustees, while the latter 
totally disqualifies him for read mission into the institution, and 
for receiving any of its honours. The board, however, do 

of Natural and Revealed Religion. Intellectual Philosophy. Law of Na- 
tions and Political Law, (Kent's Commentaries.) Eng-lish composition. 
Forensic discussions. 

** On every Saturday members of the Senior Class deliver original essays 
in the chapel. 

" Frenchf Spaniskj and German, may be pursued, if required by parents, 

** On each day of the week, except Saturday, there are not more than four 
nor less than three recitations of one hour each for every class* On Saturday 
each class recites once. 

** All the classes, except the Senior class, recite both in the morning and af- 
ternoon. 

" The instructions of the college are conveyed in part by lectures, but prin- 
cipally by the study of the most approved text books, aided by the explana- 
tions of the professors. The diligence of the student is tested by rigid daily 
examinations. The character of each recitation is recorded, and the results 
communicated to parents or guardians in the middle or at the end of each 
term. At the end of each term, public examinations of the classes are held 
by the faculty; and the students are classed in the order of n>erit. 

*' Defective students are not allowed to proceed to a higher class, and in- 
competent students are dismissed from the institution. 

" Negligent and indolent students are transferred to a lower class when 
unable to proceed with the studies of their own class." 

Instruction in the French, Spanish, and German languages, is given to 
those students who may desire it, by teachers appointed by the trustees. — 
January, 1834. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 101 

not call upon other schools to exclude the students who may 
have been expelled from their own; nor, though more than 
once invited to come into an agreement to this effect, do they 
consider themselves bound to refuse admittance to those who 
may have incurred expulsion elsewhere; but reserving to 
themselves the privilege of judging of the circumstances of 
each case, decide according to their own opinion of its me- 
rits. That disposition which would fix an indelible mark 
of disgrace upon the forehead of a young man, however 
guilty, and would shut up against him the path of repentance 
and returning honour, savours rather of revenge and perse- 
cution, than of that spirit of beneficence which chastens only 
for good; and it is placing too much power in the hands of 
any set of men, other than the public tribunals of the country, 
to enable them, whether from a sense of justice, or from any 
worse motive, for ever to cut off from the youth who may 
have incurred their displeasure, all access to the fountains 
of instruction, and thus perhaps to blast prospects which may 
have opened upon him with the fullest and brightest pro- 
mise. 

The price of tuition in the collegiate classes is sixty dol- 
lars for one year, more than five times the amount demanded 
by the college before the revolution. * 

Two scholarships have been founded upon the funds of the 
institution, the right of nomination to which belongs to the 
heirs of Thomas Penn. This arrangement originated in the 
conditions of the grant, made by that gentleman to the late 
college and academy, of his fourth part of the manor of Per- 
kasie. In the deed of conveyance, dated July 21st, 1759, it 
was provided that the trustees should never dispose of their 
interest in the estate, and that when the income from it 
should amount to two hundred pounds per annum, they 

• The price is now twenty-five dollars for each term, or seventy-five dol- 
lars a year. — January ^ 1834. 



102 HISTORY or THE 

should educate, maintain, and clothe two persons of the nomi- 
nation of the grantors or his heirs; and it was also provided, 
that if these conditions should not be complied with, or in 
case of a dissolution of the corporation, the land should revert 
to the original owner or to those who might represent him. 
The number of acres was about two thousand five hundred, 
and the rent at the period of the conveyance was forty-three 
pounds. In the year 1813 the rent is stated at more than 
six hundred bushels of wheat; an increase which strikingly 
exemplifies the great nominal rise in the value of property. 
It appears from the minutes of the board of trustees, that they 
had always been desirous of selling this land, as the sum 
which it would command might be invested so as to produce 
an income far greater in amount than any rent which could 
be obtained. But as the sanction of the proprietor was ne- 
cessary before a sale could be made, and upon application 
from the trustees he expressed his unwillingness to give the 
desired permission, the design was dropped for the time, and 
the lands remained as before. Several partial efibrts were 
afterwards made, which either ended in the appointment of 
committees, or failed from a want of proper attention in the 
progress of the afiair. At length, in the year 1816, the board 
determined to exert themselves for the attainment of the ob- 
ject; and, as a preliminary measure, passed a resolution pledg- 
ing the income of the university for the education and main- 
tenance of any two individuals at one time, and of an equal 
number for ever, whom the heirs of the late proprietor might 
nominate. Thus originated the ^'Penn foundation," the es- 
tablishment of which was merely the transfer of an obliga- 
tion before attached to the possession of the Perkasie lands, 
to the general funds of the university; and was very properly 
considered by the board as a necessary proceeding on their 
part, before permission to sell these lands could be decently 
requested. Application being now made to John Peon, the 



UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 103 

descendent and heir of Thomas Penn, a release of the condi- 
tion annexed to the original grant was readily obtained; and 
in the year 1817 the whole estate was sold for the sum of 
sixty thousand five hundred dollars, a portion of which was 
paid in cash, and the remainder secured by bond and mort- 
gage. It has been mentioned on a former occasion, that the 
purchasers were unable to meet their engagements; and that 
much of the property has in consequence reverted to the 
university. 

Connected with the collegiate department of the universi- 
ty is a library, which, though not very extensive, contains 
many rare and highly valuable works. The donation of the 
king of France, and the bequest of Dr. M*Dowell have al- 
ready been alluded to. Presents for the library have been 
received from other sources: among them may be mentioned 
a number of Bengalee books from the Rev. Wm. Carey, 
baptist missionary in India. Appropriations are occasionally 
made by the trustees for its increase; and a standing commit- 
tee, in whose charge it has been placed, are directed to pur- 
chase, as occasion may offer, such works as they may think 
suitable, ** particularly all publications connected with the 
past and present condition of the United States. '^ 

There is also connected with the same department a phi- 
losophical apparatus, which has been gradually increasing 
since the foundation of the school, and is at present one of the 
most valuable and extensive collections of this kind, exist- 
ing in America.* 

With all these recommendations, it might be reasonably 
expected that the college would be crowded with students; 
but the new regulations, by which it has been placed on its 
present footing, are too recent to have produced any of those 

• The apparatus has been considerably augmented since the period alluded 
to in the text. I have been assured that it is now at least equal to that of any 
collegiate establishment in the United States. — January , 1834. 



104 HISTORY OP THE 

good effects which may be ultimately expected from them; 
and the number of students, therefore, differs little from the 
average of the last ten or fifteen years, which may be stated 
at about fifty. ^ 

Of the academy^ which is the second division of the 
department of arts, it is necessary to say but little. Un- 
der this title are included two grammar schools — one in the 
charge of the Rev. James V/iltbank, located in the old Fourth 
Street academy; the other, a seminary situated in the west- 
ern part of the city, which has long been conducted by 
Messrs. Wiley and Engles, and has recently come into con- 
nexion with the university. Over these schools a general 
superintendence is exercised by the faculty of arts, assisted 
by a committee of the board; and a course of instruction is 
pursued calculated to prepare the scholars for admission into 
the collegiate classes. The teachers are compensated by the 
proceeds of tuition, and receive from the university no other 
advantage than the influence of its name, and, in the instance 
of the first mentioned school, the use of a suitable room free 
from rent. The price of tuition is twelve dollars a quarter; 
and the number of scholars generally exceeds one hundred. f 

The charity schools are a highly interesting branch of 
the seminary. The circumstances of their origin, and the 

• Under the influence of the new spirit which has been infused into this 
department of the university within the last few yeai-s, the number of pupils 
has greatly aug-mented. According to the catalogue published in 1832, the 
members of the four college classes amounted to one hundred and twenty-six. 
The number at present is ninety-four. — Januar^t 1834. 

I The academical department at present embraces a classical and English 
school, under the charge of a principal, who teaches the classics, an English 
teacher, and three assistants. The present principal is the Rev. Samuel W. 
Crawford, who is assisted by Theophilus A. Wylie and William Alexander. 
The English teaclier is Thomas M'Adam, and his assistant Thomas M 'Adam jr. 
The number of pupils at present in the academy is one hundred and eighty- 
four. — January t 1834. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 105 

obligations which bind the trustees to their continued sup- 
port, have been already detailed. From the foundation of 
the academy to the present time, two schools, one for boys, 
the other for girls, have been constantly maintained out of 
the general funds of the institution; and the average number 
of scholars receiving instruction in them has been about one 
hundred. In the year 1823, a third school was established 
under the following circumstances. A citizen of Philadel- 
phia, by the name of John Keble, upon his death in 1807, 
left the residue of a considerable estate to be applied to 
such charitable objects as might be appointed by the Right 
Rev. Bishop White, and other persons designated in the 
will. Conceiving that the promotion of education among 
the poor was the most effectual charity, and having full con- 
fidence in the stability of the university, and the uprightness 
of those who had the direction of its affairs; these gentlemen 
were convinced that they should best acquit themselves of 
their charge, by appropriating the property to this institu- 
tion, in trust that it should be kept a distinct fund for the 
extension of the boys' charity school. The appropriation 
was made in March, 1809, at which time the estimated value 
of the property was nearly ten thousand dollars. Most of 
it, however, being real estate, and not very productive, the 
income was deemed too small for immediate and advantage- 
ous application. The fund was therefore allowed to accu- 
mulate for several years, till, in 1823, it had become suffi- 
ciently ample to authorize the establishment of a new school, 
to be maintained exclusively out of its annual proceeds. 
Thus originated the Keble, Charity School, which is now 
in a flourishing condition, containing about fifty scholars. 
The income of the whole Keble fund is at present estimated 
at one thousand dollars. That portion of it which is not ap- 
plied to the support of the school, is added to the principal, 
and thus made productive. 

All the charity schools are *^ subject to the inspection, sti= 

14 



106 HISTORY OF THE 

perintendence, and control of the professors of the collegiate 
department and a committee of the board/^ The children 
who attend them, to the number of about one-hundred and 
fifty, are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the 
whole expense of their instruction, including the salaries 
of teachers, the rent of rooms, the cost of books, and other 
incidental charges, is little, if at all short of two thousand 
dollars per annum. 

2. Department of Natural Science. — The present 
condition of this department is by no means flattering. 
There are nominally five professorhips — those of natural 
philosophy, of botany, of natural history, of mineralogy and 
chemistry applied to agriculture and the arts, and of compa- 
rative anatomy. A regulation of the department requires 
that annual courses of lectures should be publicly delivered 
by each of the professors; but it has been only partially 
complied with. We have been favoured with highly valu- 
able courses, from Dr. Patterson upon natural philosophy, 
from Dr. William P. C. Barton upon botany, and -from 
William H. Keating upon chemistry and mineralogy; but 
the last of these gentlemen is now absent from the country. 
Dr. Barton has attached himself to another institution, and 
the professor of natural philosophy is at present the only effi- 
cient member of the faculty. It would be a source of great 
regret, should an establishment which promised so much ho- 
nour to the university, and so much good to the community, 
be allowed to fail. The public patronage, however, affords 
an insufficient compensation for the labour and talents which 
are requisite for a proper performance of the duties of the 
several professorships; and it is hardly probable that this de- 
partment will ever prosper, unless the trustees should be 
able, from their own funds, to supply the deficiency of 
public support, by salaries adequate to the services re- 
quired.* 

* This department of the university, whicli the cstablishmeiU of the 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 107 

In connexion with the subject of natural science, it may 
be proper to mention, that by act of assembly, in the year 
1807, a grant of three thousand dollars was made to the trus- 
tees of the university, out of the money due by them to the 
state, ^*for the purpose of enabling them to establish a gar- 
den for the improvement of the science of botany, and for 
instituting a series of experiments to ascertain the cheapest 
and best food for plants, and their medical properties and 
virtues." A lot of ground suitable for such a purpose has 
been purchased, the care of which, and of the means neces- 
sary for its improvement has been entrusted to a standing 
committee of the board. But the appropriation of the le- 
gislature was too small to be efficiently applied without the 
addition of a much larger sum; and, as the income of the uni- 
versity, absorbed in the support of its existing establishment, 
will admit of no further expenditure, the enterprise, though 
not altogether abandoned, is necessarily suffered to languish. 
At present, the public resources are so deeply involved in 
the prosecution of measures vast in their extent, and rich in 
their promise of future prosperity to the state, that objects 
of less importance are perhaps wisely overlooked. But when 
the promise of these measures shall have been fulfilled, we 
may reasonably hope that the overflowings of the public 
treasury will be largely directed into the fields of science, 
and that the botanic garden of the university will be among 
the first to feel their reviving and invigorating influence. 

3 and 4. The Department of General Literature and 
the Department of Law, are at present altogether nominal. 
Each of them contains a single professorship: but that of law 
is vacant by the recent death of Charles W. Hare; and that 
of general literature, though occupied by a gentleman whose 
qualifications for the office might safely challenge a compa- 

Franklin Institute has rendered unnecessary, has been abolished, — January^ 
1834. 



108 HISTORY OP THE 

rison with those of any other man in the country, does not 
afford sufficient inducements to call off his attention from 
more pleasing or more profitable pursuits.* 

5. The Medical Department. — In this department 
the business of instruction is committed to six professors, oc- 
casionally assisted by adjuncts, who, like their principals, 
are appointed by the trustees. These professors constitute 
a faculty, to which, subject to the rules and statutes of the 
board, belongs the government of the medical school, and 
the arrangement of all the affairs of the department. One of 
their number, with the title of dean, is appointed to perform 
the duties of secretary to the faculty, and to act as their or- 
gan of communication with the students. The medical pro- 
fessors receive no salary; but the profits of their lectures ren- 
der their office highly productive. The following is a list 
of the several professors, with the chairs which they re- 
spectively occupy .*; — 

Philip Syng Physick, M. D., Professor of Anatomy; 

Nathaniel Chapman, M. D., Professor of the Institutes and 
Practice of Physic, and of Clinical Medicine; 

William Gibson, M. D., Professor of Surgery; 

John Redman Coxe, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica, 
and of Pharmacy; 

Robert Hare, M. D., Professor of Chemistry; 

Thomas C. James, M. D., Professor of Midwifery; 

William E. Horner, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Anato- 
my; and 

William P. Dewees, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Mid- 
wifery. 

Full courses of lectures, about four months in duration, are 
annually delivered upon each of these branches, with the sin- 
gle exception of the institutes of medicine, which being at- 
tached to the subject of the practice, of itself the most copi- 

* Poth these departments have been abolished.— Vowwory, 1834, 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 109 

ous in the whole round of the science, forms a burden too 
heavy for the powers of one individual, however expanded 
may be his intellect, and vigorous his application. It is to 
be hoped, however, that means will be provided to supply 
this deficiency, either by the appointment of an adjunct, or by 
the creation of a new professorship. It is indeed impossible, 
that in a system of instruction, in all other respects so per- 
fect, one of the chief pillars upon which the science of medi- 
cine rests, should be long allowed to be wanting.* 

The degrees conferred in the medical department are those 
of Doctor of Medicine, and Master of Pharmacy. To be ad- 
mitted to the former of these honours, it is required that the 
candidate should have attained the age of twentyrone years; 
should have been three years engaged in the study of medi- 
cine, and at least two years of this period under some re- 
spectable practitioner; should have attended two full courses 
of lectures in the university,! and one course of clinical in- 
struction in the Pennsylvania Hospital or city Alms-house; 
should have written a dissertation on some medical subject, 
to be approved by the faculty; and, finally, have undergone a 
satisfactory examination by the professors, as to the extent 
of his acquirements, and his fitness for the practice of the 
profession. 

Every medical student, upon entering the university, is 

* Since this account was written. Dr. Physlck has retired from the school 
with the title of "Emeritus Professor of Surgery and Anatomy;" and has 
been succeeded by his former adjunct, Dr. Horner. The deficiency noticed 
in the text in relation to the institutes of medicine, has been supplied by the 
appointment of Samuel Jackson, M. D., as assistant to the professor of the 
institutes and practice of physic and clinical medicine. — January^ 1834. 

-j- Witli regard to this requisite, an exception is made in favour of those 
who have attended one or more courses in any respectable medical school in 
\yhlch the same subjects are taught as in the university of Pennsylvania. Of 
these it is only required that they should attend one full couree of the medi» 
cal lectures. 



110 HISTORY OP THE 

obliged to pay five dollars as a matriculating fee. The price 
of admittance to the course of each profession is twenty dol- 
lars; and the aggregate cost of tuition for two years is two 
hundred and forty dollars.* The expenses of graduation 
amount to forty dollars, of which each of the principal medi- 
cal professors receives five, the provost three, the vice-pro- 
vost two, and five dollars are paid to the secretary of the 
board of trustees, which, after defraying the cost of the diplo- 
ma, is appropriated to the increase and preservation of the 
anatomical museum. 

As young men of high natural endowments, and strong 
inclination to the medical profession, are often deterred from 
entering into it by their inability to bear the necessary 
charges, a proposition was very generously made by the fa- 
culty to the board of trustees, that a permanent provision 
should be made for the gratuitous education of six students, 
to be selected from among those who might appear most de- 
serving, and most in need of assistance. A regulation to this 
efiect was accordingly adopted, and has now been several 
years in force. A committee is annually appointed by the 
board, who give public notice that they will receive applica- 
tions for gratuitous tickets of admission to the lectures; and 
at a suitable time previously to the commencement of the regu- 
lar courses, the several applications which have been handed 
in are examined and decided on. In every instance, testi- 
monials are required, that the applicant is of good moral cha- 
racter, and of studious habits; that his literary attainments 
are respectable; and that his circumstances are such as to ren- 
der him a suitable object of the gratuity. 

The number of students attending the medical lectures in 
the university averages about four hundred and fifty; and the 

* After attending two courses of each professor, the student has the privi- 
lege of being admitted to the lectures without chai-gc. 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Ill 

annual number of graduates has for the last five years varied 
from ninety-six to one hundred and thirty-one.* 

The degree of Master of Pharmacy was instituted, a few 
years since, with the very laudable view of improving the 
profession of the apothecary, which in this city has assumed 
an importance far beyond what it possesses in other parts of 
the United States. Any person is entitled to the degree, 
who shall have served an apprenticeship of at least three 
years with a respectable apothecary, and attended two courses 
of lectures on chemistry and materia medica in the universi- 
ty. Advantages would no doubt have accrued from this ac- 
cession to the original plan of the medical department, had it 
not been superseded by the establishment by the apothecaries 
themselves of a distinct school, which, being under their own 
management, and directed to the one object of advancing the 
usefulness and respectability of the profession, is naturally 
more popular, and at least equally efficient. 

Reference has been made, on a previous occasion, to the 
existence of an anatomical museum, connected with the de- 
partment of medicine. It is generally known among medi- 
cal men, that the late Dr. Wistar was indefatigable in col- 
lecting together specimens and preparations both in healthy 
and morbid anatomy, with models and other representations 
of parts of the human frame, calculated to illustrate his course 
of anatomical lecturesj and they who have had the pleasure 
of listening to his instruction well remember, how delightfully 
plain and lucid the most intricate and obscure parts of his 
subject were rendered by his sedulous efforts to demonstrate 
to the eye, what could not be well understood from descrip- 
tion alone. After his death, his family presented to the uni- 

* In the winter of 1824-5, there were four hundred and eighty-four stu^ 
dents in the medical class. For the last seven years they have averaged about 
four hundred. The number attending the present course is four hundred 
and thirty-one. — January j 1834. 



112 HISTORY OP THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

versity this extensive and highly valuable collection, which 
was thankfully received by the trustees, and in honour of its 
distinguished author, as well as in commemoration of the li- 
berality of the gift, was styled the Wistar museum. A suita- 
ble apartment was provided for its reception; and appropria- 
tions of money were from time to time made for its preser- 
vation and increase. In the year 1824 it was greatly 
enlarged by the addition of the anatomical collection of the 
Pennsylvania Hospital, which the managers of that institu- 
tion, with an honourable liberality, transferred to the charge 
of the trustees of the university, under the impression, that^ 
in the medical school, it might be applied tamore useful pur- 
poses than it could be, if retained in their own possession. 
The whole museum is placed under the immediate care of 
the professor of anatomy, who finds, in its diversified con- 
tents, the means of giving greater interest and increased ef- 
ficiency to his lectures. 

in this account of the university, it is believed that all the 
facts, worthy of notice haVe been embraced. The reader 
will have perceived, that in the composition of the whole 
memoir, nothing higher has been aimed at than simple and 
perspicuous narration: he will therefore be guided inform- 
ing a judgment of its merits, less by the manner in which 
it has been executed, than by the value of the matter it con- 
tains. Judged even upon this principle, it may be thought 
by some undeserving of the space which it occupies: but 
it pretends only to local interest; and if it excite among the 
inhabitants of Philadelphia increased attention to the claims 
of an institution which is intimately connected with the ho- 
nour and welfare of the city, it will have accomplished the 
chief object for which it was written. 

FINI5. 



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